When American Reno Domenico comes back to Kyiv from the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this month, Hillary Clinton will be the party’s nominee for president and Domenico will be looking for someone to debate.
Domenico, the longtime president of the Ukrainian chapter of Democrats Abroad, took the side of Barack Obama in 2012 against American Brian Mefford, a consultant living in Kyiv, who stood up for Mitt Romney in a debate sponsored by the Kyiv Post.
But in 2016, Republicans willing to stand up for Donald Trump are few and far between.
“I imagine there’s somebody out there who will support Donald Trump,” Domenico told the Kyiv Post in a July 6 interview. “I hope we’ll find somebody to debate. I am willing.”
But first things first. Domenico, 68, the president of the Kyiv-based Sterling Business School, is excited to be a delegate for his first time at a national convention. The Democrats meet in Philadelphia from July 25-28, after the Republican National Convention coronates Trump in Cleveland from July 18-21.
Domenico was elected by fellow Democrats Abroad and is one of only four from the expat organization to be chosen as a delegate.
While he admires U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Democratic runner-up, Domenico thinks that Clinton will make a great president.
“I believe Hillary Clinton is a fighter. I think she will fight for me. I think she’ll fight for you and I think she’ll fight for the American people,” Domenico said. “This world of politics is difficult. As much as I like and admired Barack Obama, sometimes his negotiations left us on the short side of the stick. With Hillary there will still be blood on the floor, but it won’t be all ours.”
Defeating Trump, and his toxic rhetoric, is the main goal. While he rates the chances of a Trump victory at 20 percent, “that’s still a scary percentage for America,” he said.
He understands the anti-establishment appeal of Trump. It’s partially the fault of both parties, Domenico said, in not reaching out to a “white working class” that feels “cast adrift” by policies going back to Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
“There has been a slow erosion of the American working class, the union movement, of family support structures and community. All has left the traditional white working clase ethnic voter without much to hold on to,” Domenico said.
“My dad was one of those who worked in a factory, was a union member. I remember reading the union newspaper that came every Friday,” Domenico recalled. “It helped keep people organized. It provided a tangible association between politics, their life and family and community and church.”
Electing Trump will be a disaster for America and the world.
“He has convinced me he is a stone-cold racist,” Domenico said of Trump.
Recently, Trump drew yet more criticism for re-tweeting an anti-Semitic symbol from a neo-Nazi group. That is quite telling, Domenico said. To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi, you are what you think.
Facebook and Twitter are good mirrors of a person’s interests, Domenico said.
“Look at the things I post and the things I recommend people to read,” Domenico said. “You will find a lot of polticial news. Maybe some stuff about Italian food periodially or even something about attractive women. You’re not going to find me trolling around white supremicist Nazi websites like Trump. You don’t just stumble across this information. It must be because he’s interested.”
While Bill and HIllary Clinton have had their problems and made many mistakes, “they kept their family together. They’re more of an all-American family type than Donald Trump, who has had three wives and brags about how avoiding veneral disease was his Vietnam War.”
Bottom line: “This election is not just Democrats vs. Republicans. This is an electiona about right vs. wrong…You’re not going to find Hillary making racist comments. An America based on fear and racism and hate is not the America I want to live in. Hillary understands working-class families are suffering in America and she’s going to do something about it.”
