At its best the Republican Party represents fiscal responsibility, respect for religious freedom, and a healthy skepticism towards government overreach. Even though I now identify as politically independent, I grew up in a Republican home and, in a very real sense, those values are still important to me. This is why I was horrified to see that in the most recent polls Donald Trump is the overwhelming favorite among North Carolina Republicans.

Trump has recently been in the headlines for his proposed plans to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, spy on mosques and force all Muslims living here to register in a database. What Trump represents, in other words, is the Republican Party at its very worst. The leading Republican candidate’s proposed plans would not only be an obvious violation of the First Amendment but also fiscally irresponsible, and — let’s be honest — eerily reminiscent of Nazi Germany-era policies towards Jews. In fact, when a reporter asked him how his proposals differ from Nazi treatment of Jews, Trump was unable to answer the question.

While many of the Republican candidates have been quick to condemn Trump for his most recent proposals, it is worth mentioning that Trump is only the most exaggerated version of a Republican platform which seems to define itself more and more by hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric in general, and anti-Muslim rhetoric in particular, as opposed to traditional conservative values. The justification for this abandonment, according to Trump and his Republican running mates, is the exceptional circumstances caused by the rise Islamic extremism. And while the comparisons between Trump and Hitler have been numerous, I think it is worth adding that it was the “exceptional circumstances” of 1933 that justified Hitler’s dissemblance of the Weimar Republic and allowed him to establish himself as a totalitarian dictator.

In North Carolina, we see this “exceptional circumstances” logic at play in the platforms of Republican Governor Pat McCrory and his Democratic challenger Roy Cooper. Both have called on President Obama to not allow Syrian refugees to seek asylum in North Carolina, citing the exceptional circumstances of the Syrian refugee crisis and our supposed inability to properly vet the incoming refugees. However, not only would neither of them have any authority as governor to enact such a platform, but it is also not at all clear that it is necessary. The vetting process for Syrian refugees is the most extensive process for any kind of refugee, involving the CIA, FBI and Homeland Security and taking between 18 months and two years. In fact, in the United States you are considerably more likely to be killed by a right-wing extremist or the police than by refugee terrorists. McCrory and Cooper are presumably aware of this (if they are not then perhaps they shouldn’t propose policies about things they don’t understand) and in all likelihood are just taking advantage of the political climate for their own purposes.

North Carolinians would be wise to be skeptical of this logic of “exceptional circumstances,” especially when politicians employ it to capitalize upon a general distrust and misunderstanding of an entire population of people for their own benefit. It is, after all, real people’s lives we are talking about here, not just statistics to be appropriated for campaigns. Instead of being manipulated by this cynical logic, North Carolinians ought to remember the good old-fashioned Southern value of hospitality.

Ryne Beddard is a Beaufort County resident who is currently working on his Master of Arts degree in religious studies at the University of Denver.