There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Donald Trump. Except he isn’t the sheriff, he’s the jealous village idiot who thinks spouting off whatever hate mongering things he can think of is going to win him votes to become sheriff.

And, it’s actually working.

But it shouldn’t be. He’s fostering a negative environment for different races, which ultimately will ruin him—and, in the long run, all of us. At a Trump Rally on Jan. 24 in Muscatine, Iowa, two protesters were carrying signs with “Stop Hate” written on them.

One of the protestors was wearing a red turban. As the man was escorted out, Trump asked the crowd somewhat facetiously, “He wasn’t wearing one of those hats, was he?” according to Inquisitr online.

Additionally, last summer Trump blamed America’s crime problems on undocumented Mexicans coming into the country. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he said in his presidential announcement speech in June.

“They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

The part that is hard to understand is why is he still making headlines after these insanely racist remarks. He should be losing points in the political polls but instead he’s gaining support. It just goes to show that many people—at least among those being polled—are actually pretty racist.

If someone like Trump is seriously doing this well (much to the surprise of anyone with a few brain cells) then there is something wrong with America in general. It also means that many Americans haven’t moved beyond being inherently suspicious of anyone different from them, which has led to shameful periods in our past such as the rise of the Klu Klux Klan, Japanese internment camps during World War II and the Nativist movement in the mid-19th century.

When students of color feel like they need safe spaces so they can talk about issues on campus that are happening to them, there’s an issue. When students feel the need to write letters to the administration of a university, there’s an issue. This type of talk goes against any kind of enlightened thinking as America lumbers into the 21st century. America is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society and in the long run we’re really going to be in trouble if we don’t accept that reality.

It’s clear that Trump is a reality-show character pretending to run for President. He has realized that more outrageous and outlandish he acts, the more attention he gets. It’s hard to tell whether he believes all of the poison that spews from his mouth—hell, he’s changed positions so many times on issues it’s hard to know what he really stands for—or if it’s just part of his “bad boy” act.

But hate speech is hate speech and any of it is hurtful and damaging. Trump’s racist comments need to stop and we, as Americans, need to rise above his rhetoric and mean spiritedness.

We are better than that. Don’t let his talk of “Making America Great Again” seduce you. We’re not great, we’re pretty good but we can always do better. In our hearts, we know what’s right—and Trump’s way is certainly not the American Way.