Don't elect Trump, don't elect Babiš

Pres. Petr Pavel said in his Oct. 28 address that there are actually few topics that divide Czech society in half and that he'll continue to try to make sure there aren't more. Above all, he added, he'll try to make sure we avoid hate, because it hasn't ever done any good. A few days later his adviser Petr Kolář told Právo that what Pavel said in the election campaign about Donald Trump's being a "repulsive human being" is absolutely true. Trump is an "utterly repulsive creature," Kolář said, and his election might lead to catastrophe. Tomáš Prouza, until recently an adviser to Jozef Síkela as industry minister, told Euro that a Trump victory would be a catastrophe for Europe and the worst possible news for the CR. It would be simplistic merely to suspect Kolář and Prouza of spreading the kind of hate Pavel said we should avoid. Their comments, like many other similar ones, are mainly political. If the Americans elect Trump, it will be all that more difficult to convince Czechs not to elect his local equivalent.