Statement by CWA Vice President Claude Cummings, chair of the CWA Human Rights Committee, and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

This week’s action by Democratic convention delegates points to the tremendous contrast between Hillary Clinton, the first woman to be nominated for President by a major political party, and the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, who was nominated last week.

I could not be prouder that my party nominated Hillary Clinton for President, making her the first women in our nation’s 240-year history chosen as a major party presidential nominee.  History was made. One of the last glass ceilings is deeply cracked and ready to shatter.

As a delegate at the Democratic National Convention, I’m humbled to be part of this historic time.  Not enough history has been made yet, however.  Clear thinking, fair minded Americans know that cracking a ceiling is not enough.  We must all work together, and harder than ever, to make sure this chapter in history ends with Hillary Clinton being elected President of the United States of America.

The stakes are too high.  The risks are too great to rest now and allow Donald Trump to become President.  It is not about Democrats and Republicans. With Donald Trump, it is a matter of liberty and freedom.  A Trump presidency threatens both.

Hillary Clinton may well be the most qualified person to ever seek the Presidency. We are fortunate that she is running at this critical time, not only to break historic barriers, but to secure and strengthen our great Democracy at a time of great peril and threat.  It's up to us to finish the job and make sure she is elected as our President in November.

This week, Donald Trump called President Obama “ignorant.”

During a barely coherent rant of a news conference, Trump lashed out at his detractors and then specifically referred to President Obama as “ignorant.”  Trump's ridiculous attack not only exposed him as a man undeserving of support, or even respect, he exposed his own inability to grasp the notion of leadership or patriotism.  He cannot articulate policy differences, or makes truly frightening foreign policy statements, because he has not bothered to learn what any serious candidate needs to know. He has given no serious thought to the economic and political policy positions of our time.

Trump is lacking in knowledge, judgment and temperament, nor does he have the willingness to listen and learn what's required to serve as President of the United States.

What always is apparent is Donald Trump’s enormous and destructive ego.  His self-serving, uninformed comments, and the thoughts they reflect, expose a real danger.  His attack on President Obama is clearly calculated to obscure his own failure to come clean with the public.  He is withholding tax returns that almost certainly would expose business ties he wants to remain hidden.  After at first denying any ties to Russia, he now acknowledges that he owns property in Russia and has rental agreements with Russian bankers.

Our country is strong and has withstood great challenges and dangerous threats over the years.  Defeating Donald Trump is a challenge we must take on and meet, because his election as President would be a dangerous threat to our democracy, our economy and the country we love.