“Dad, Why Is Donald Trump Bad?”

Last night, as we were building a tower in Minecraft, my eight-year-old asked me to explain what's going on.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Today is election day in the United States. 

We have avoided politics in the house, which is fortunate, because I’ve struggled to conceptualize how to talk about it with my eight-year-old. But I planned to treat politics like I treat anything else: when my kid is ready to ask, I’m ready to answer. 

Will Dad have a good answer? Probably not, but he’ll try. 

I’ve had the same approach when she’s asked about my dad (“he died of a heart attack, I wish he’d been able to meet you and your sister”) or religion (“some people believe there’s somewhere else, but your mom and I don’t, and nobody really knows for sure”). 

I knew this was coming because she’s old enough to be exposed to memes. One day, I caught her singing “they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the dogs” and I started cackling. And yet, I was not prepared for yesterday's question, aka today’s headline:

“Dad, why is Donald Trump bad?”