Every day, Donald Trump adds one more to the heap of reasons why I cannot give him my vote. But there’s one that looms so large, all others are subject to its immense gravity: he has changed the very natures of individual American citizens, and not for the better.

The depravity of his character is not a matter of debate. People of all stripes recognize this. What has been debated is to what degree character matters and to what effect. Eight years ago we put on trial whether prioritizing policy over character yielded any different fruits. And eight years on I think we can unequivocally conclude that the results are not good.

The change he imposed on our culture is the most visible, most enduring outcome of his presidency. The campaign can disavow the parade of wannabes that cross his campaign stage. But the fact is, they wouldn’t be emboldened to say what they say if Trump hadn’t done it first. Then add the most condemnable of identity groups that now subvert and intimidate in the open… some cohort.

The poison in our veins is not flowing from south of the border, it’s coming from Donald Trump himself.

But even more tender — like a sub-surface bruise — are people dear to me, friends and family members, once peacemakers full of the spirit of life now consumed by the conspiracy and enmity they’ve been fed. And the young men in my neighborhood who adore his machismo, and see the roadmap to success in his misbehavior.

These are the soft skills of Trump University where retribution is a cause more righteous than forgiveness. Other human beings can be grabbed, ridiculed, dominated, refused, and eradicated. They are to be trampled in pursuit of self-aggrandizement. Just one amoral man is a seemingly manageable problem, but as the figurehead, he granted legitimacy to the thousands who now mirror him. The poison in our veins is not flowing from south of the border, it’s coming from Donald Trump himself. The worry that my own son could one day emulate the dehumanization of living people, or my daughter swallowed up in fearful conspiracies puts urgency on the need to push these influences back into irrelevancy.

Our vote is binary: we approve or disapprove. We cannot attach addendums nor can we include conditions like, “this vote is valid only as long as…” To Trump a vote is a carte blanche. We must consider the message we send and the behavior we condone with our vote not only to the candidates, but also our fellow citizens, and our children. This cultural trench runs so deep, its impacts so enduring, that we must begin now to fill it in without excavating it all over again. With my vote for Harris I intend to continue the mission we began four years ago and move on from a man whose influence is no longer welcome.