Donald Trump will almost certainly not be the next president of the United States. According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, 59 percent of Americans still say that they have an unfavorable view of him, and his illegitimacy as a viable presidential candidate will only become more apparent as the actual elections loom closer.

His current place atop the Republican primary polls owes more to general anti-establishment tendencies among the current electorate and the large number of establishment challengers than actual widespread support for his political vision.

Nonetheless, he is enjoying substantial support from a small subset of Americans, with 29 percent of Republican voters planning to give him their vote according to a Public Policy Polling poll. And while his supporters may be a vocal minority, unrepresentative of the average American, they do represent the most reprehensible elements of American political and social thought.

The United States is a country that has achieved some truly incredible things, largely thanks to the will and determination of a dynamic and engaged population. The American Revolution and subsequent support for a radically different form of government exemplified the American people’s commitment to act on the philosophical contributions of thinkers like Locke and Rousseau, who insisted that the right to govern stems from the governed themselves. Almost two centuries later the United States and its people answered the external threat of Nazism with incredible courage and determination.

But a number of habitual weaknesses have also dogged our nation; too many times our people have allowed a flawed world view to influence their decisions, many times resulting in abhorrent moral transgressions. We’ve used a feeling of American exceptionalism to excuse genocide, we’ve used blatant racism to justify slavery and subsequent injustices, and we’ve allowed ourselves to conveniently forget our own immigrant roots and deny new arrivals a place in our society. And Trump seems to be riding these resilient ugly sentiments to the top of the GOP polls.

Trump suggested, in his campaign announcement speech, that Mexican immigrants are primarily murderers and rapists, and his supporters cheer. Nevermind that the vast majority of immigrants are simply hard working folks keen on improving their family’s economic situation. What matters to the average Trump supporter isn’t that what he says is right, but that it reflects what they have deluded themselves into thinking.

But what’s even more concerning than Trump’s supporters’ ignorance is their apparent derision for anything bordering on compassion. When asked about illegal immigration, Republican candidate Jeb Bush acknowledged that crossing the border for the benefit of one’s family is indeed an ¨act of love.¨ He did not dismiss the illegality of the action, nor did he condone it, but simply softening the typical conservative anti-immigration rhetoric was enough to invite a slamming from Trump. In a recently released Trump campaign video, images of three undocumented criminals accompany Bush’s words, followed by text reading, ¨Love? Forget love, it’s time to get tough!¨

The video concludes with Trump’s campaign slogan: “Make America great again.” It seems an ironic choice of words; while Trump and his supporters may have illusions of bullying their way to creating a ¨greater¨ America, their reactionary and morally corrupt values reflect the flawed American ethos that have long detracted from our country’s greatness.

Benjamin Clabault can be reached at [email protected].