Back around January this year when Senator Bernie Sanders said that the DNC was not being fair to his campaign but instead was favoring presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, he told the truth.  I must admit that, at the time, I thought that his complaint was nothing more than a sour grapes response to the fact that he was losing the race.  At the time, I also believed that his complaints about other facets of the DNC – like the rules committee – were just as baseless and should likewise be ignored.

However, with the recent leaks of the DNC emails by WikiLeaks my opinion has changed.  Although I strongly supported Secretary Clinton before these leaks and still do, this is a situation that the Democrats should thoroughly investigate and decide what steps they should take.  When I began writing this article I said that Senator Sanders is justified in calling for DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign.  Before I finished it, there was an article in the Washington Post that said she had resigned.  I think highly of Ms. Wasserman Schultz and respect all of the hard work that she has done since she became the Chair but if what these leaked emails suggest about the DNC and their efforts to sabotage the Sanders campaign is true then her resignation was warranted.

Before Ms. Wasserman Schultz resigned, when asked about the emails and how he felt about what they revealed, Senator Sanders said he was not surprised but he was disappointed.  I was both surprised and disappointed.  Again, if what these emails suggest prove to be true, because I – and without doubt many other Democrats hold Ms. Wasserman Schultz in such high esteem and think highly of her leadership of those on the DNC team, I hope that others like former Representative Barney Frank and Donna Brazile who are a part of the DNC were not involved in the effort to undermine Senator Sanders’ campaign.  And I certainly hope that Secretary Clinton is not in any way involved in this fiasco.

For Democrats, this is a terrible time for this information to surface but it needed to be brought out.  It is extremely damaging to the Democratic Party and its efforts to unite Democrats before the start of the general election.  One can only hope that WikiLeaks is neutral, was acting completely above board and is not, itself, favoring either party over the other in the upcoming general election.

There is no doubt that Republican standard bearer Donald Trump and the rest of the Republican Party will eagerly seize this information (the sharks smell blood in the water and are already circling).  Then they will use it to try to drive a wedge between Secretary Clinton’s supporters and Senator Sanders’ supporters to gain an edge in the upcoming general election.  Subsequently, Mr. Trump will use this information to try to persuade as many Democrats as possible, especially Sanders supporters, to join the Trump camp.

There is no doubt that Senator Sanders’ supporters are angry about what has come out in these already leaked emails and there are likely still more angering revelations to come.  Likewise there is no doubt that Clinton supporters are angry because of what has happened in general surrounding these leaked emails and the fact that it has forced Ms. Wasserman Schultz to resign from her position as DNC Chairwoman.

They likely lay a great deal of the blame for this situation at the feet of Senator Sanders because of his constant public complaints, even though they have now proven to be true, about the DNC running an unfair operation and that it was favoring Secretary Clinton.  The operative word in the previous sentence is ‘public’.  Many of them might believe that Senator Sanders is the catalyst that is driving this debacle.  Although his complaints are legitimate and justified, the fact that they were made public is devastating and could prove to be an intricate part of what could hand Donald Trump the presidency.  It could be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Mr. Trump is dangerous because he is unqualified and unfit to hold the office of President of the United States.  All Democrats should seriously consider this fact before they cast their ballots in November.  Some will likely actually accept his invitation to shift to the Trump camp.  Those who choose this path should be given the benefit of the doubt and we should presume that they chose it because they honestly believe that Mr. Trump is qualified and fit to hold America’s highest office and not because they loathe Hillary Clinton and detest what the DNC did by treating Senator Sanders and his campaign unfairly.

Those who plan to not vote at all or are determined to vote for another candidate should consider that this would be almost as damaging to Secretary Clinton as it would be if they cast their vote for Donald Trump.  They should also consider how America will be impacted if Mr. Trump becomes president.  If after doing this they decide to move forward with their plans then there is likely nothing else that can be said that will change their minds.

Although most Americans probably believe that Donald Trump should never become president, those Democrats mentioned immediately above can be a part of making sure that he does not.  America is in a very precarious situation and Americans must make a decision as to who we really are, if we want to actually be who we really are, or whether we want to become who we appear to be right now.  This will be decided in November and we can determine which of the abovementioned paths we will take through our vote.

Your vote counts.  So whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent always remember, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line