A dark shadow was cast over the United States on November 8th when Donald Trump won the Presidential election. This is a man who ran a campaign based on hatred and fear-and won. For us, and countless other millennials, he will never be our president. When Barack Obama was elected President in 2008, there were tears of joy as he became the first black President of the United States. When Trump was announced as the Presidential-Elect, there were tears of fear and absolute distraught because of the actions he has promised to take that undermine and attack minorities.
Not only were the real votes disappointing, but write in votes were an embarrassment this year, there were over 6,000 counted. I personally saw on social media that people decided to write in names such as Paris Hilton or Harry Styles. To be able to do something that selfish just to keep your conscience clean is called privilege. Minorities are literally fearing for their lives and people had the audacity to write someone in or vote third party just to make a statement. The wellbeing of millions of individuals is now being threatened because of someone else’s decision to not vote for one of the two major candidates. There are millions who would love the opportunity to vote and using it as a joke is insulting to them.
Donald Trump is not our president because he plans to deport 11.4 million illegal immigrants, and that would not only put us deeper in debt by dropping the GDP of the nation 5.7 percent and cost at least $400 billion, but would be unfair to those who seek refuge in this country and have not been granted their citizenship yet. Trump claims that illegal immigrants do not pay their taxes, yet during a debate against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in September, he admitted that he doesn’t pay his own federal taxes and that it makes him smart. He criticizes someone for not paying taxes so they are not found and deported, or because they don’t have enough money, and then does the same while he can practically swim in money.
Donald Trump is not our president because his vice president, Mike Pence, supports the passing of laws that will make it legal for parents of LGBTQ+ children to put them through electroshock therapy. This process is destructive, harmful and life threatening; causing people to not only be physically hurt, but also discouraged from being themselves. Marriage equality was passed just last year, so you would think this wouldn’t be an acceptable view when the community was finally becoming more widely accepted. Trump claims to support the LGBTQ+ community yet allows his VP to continue to be biased against them.
Donald Trump is not our president because he has no place in politics with his unlawful ways of business. Many people say they are tired of old school politicians. That’s why a majority of people wanted Trump, because he doesn’t have a political background and is considerably rich. However, Donald Trump is not rich because he worked for it, he inherited his father’s business. While Donald Trump has many pieces of real estate, and he lives comfortably. But he has also filed for bankruptcy protection for several businesses owned by him multiple times. While bankruptcy is not synonymous with failure, it also does not by any means show success. Many of his companies are casinos and several have fallen millions of dollars or more into debt. Trump’s Castle, Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Entertainment Resorts, Trump Plaza Casino, Trump Hotels, and Trump Plaza Hotel are all businesses he has filed for bankruptcy protection for. Ones that have just plain out failed are: Trump Steaks (a literal steak business), GoTrump an online travel site, Trump Airlines, Trump Vodka, Trump Mortgage, Trump: The Game, Trump Magazine, Trump Ice (bottled water?), Trump Network, and Trumped! A syndicated radio spot he failed to keep up. But most of all, Trump University was the biggest failure, and scam, of all his businesses. It wasn’t a real university, it was a company that claimed to be selling Trump’s very own secret insights on how to be successful in real estate. An article in The New Yorker revealed that Trump had no involvement teaching the classes, picking the instructors, and the “mentorship programs” they insisted on cost up to $35,000. This “university” was not an accredited college. It offered no college credit, no degrees, no grades. The company ran from 2005-2010 and finally in 2013, the New York Attorney General’s office inquired about it which resulted in a lawsuit being filed. Trump has tried to get his trial that is set in the winter time of this year, set back until after his presidential inauguration, which just sounds like he’s scared. If you don’t want a politician that’s fine, but don’t go for a man that has committed fraud.
Donald Trump is not our president because during his campaign he has called for a ban on all Muslims entering the country. The First Amendment not only states freedom of speech, but freedom of religion as well and that includes the Islamic religion. You can not claim to want freedom of religion so Christians can refuse the right to serve based on their beliefs, and keep religion out of schools so atheists don’t feel uncomfortable, and then insist on banning one specific religion from entering the country because you’re afraid some of them may be terrorists. There are terrorists born and raised both in the United States and outside of it. Not allowing someone into the supposed “land of the free” based on fear is unconstitutional.
Donald Trump is not our president because he mocked a disabled reporter from the New York Times, Serge Kovaleski. The man discredited Trump when he claimed to have seen thousands of Muslims standing across the Hudson River cheering as the Twin Towers burned on 9/11. To repay him Trump mocked the fact that he suffers a chronic condition that impairs the movement of his arms.
Donald Trump is not our president because not only does he not have any political background, but none in the military either. He claims to support the military fully, yet he also ridiculed Arizona Senator, John McCain for being captured for 6 years during the Vietnam War.
“He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured,” said Trump. Trump has never been a prisoner of war, let alone for six years.
Donald Trump is not our president because he has had 12 women come forward claiming he has sexually assaulted them. During a campaign rally in North Carolina, he insisted that he never did assault them. He claims they’re fiction and then tells his supporters to look up the accuser on Facebook and then says, “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.” which insinuates that those women aren’t attractive enough for him to touch. There have been countless other attacks about the appearances of female moderators, reporters, and interviewers. There is a rape accusation against him claiming that he assaulted a 13-year-old girl in 1994. These accounts are not his first dip into the pool of sexual harassment, as he has also been heard in a video from 2005 with “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush that he is attracted to an actress and that he won’t be able to stop himself from kissing her when he sees her. “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful.. I just start kissing them. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can anything. Grab them by the p***y.”
Trump not only was talking about wanting to make a move on a married woman earlier in the video, but then he talks about genuine sexual assault as if it’s nothing. To try and explain himself when this video came out this year, he claimed that “This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course- not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.” But this was not just “locker room banter” because men don’t sit around and discuss grabbing women without their consent. Trump acted as if these comments were something normal, and the men who backed him up also claim that “not all men rape.” But according to Trump, all men do casually talk about assault. Trump has also said he would date his daughter Ivanka, if she wasn’t his daughter, on television. Once again, not a normal thing for men to say and Trump doesn’t even have the time to recognize how messed up he sounds. He wants to punish women for having abortions, after years of claiming to be pro-choice, as well as shut down Planned Parenthood (PP). Not only does PP provide abortions, but cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, pregnancy tests, contraceptives, family planning, pap smears and breast exams, and many other health care services. Only 3% of the the services at Planned Parenthood are abortions. He does not realize a woman’s body is her body and not anyone else’s.
Donald Trump is not our president because he has spent eight years ridiculing President Obama. Trump insisted that Obama’s birth certificate was not real and that he was actually born in Kenya, Africa instead of Hawaii. After an incident where Obama was discussing what racial slurs people call him daily, Trump decided to say that because Obama used the N-word he was a disappointment, even though black people have every right to use that word to regain power over it. He tweeted, “Sadly, because president Obama has done such a poor job as president, you won’t see another black president for generations!”. There are numerous cases of Trump calling Obama the worst president ever, even though president’s have owned and assaulted slaves, started wars, and bombed entire countries.
Donald Trump is not our president because Clinton won the popular vote, yet because of the Electoral College Trump was elected. We have missed another opportunity to have the first female president and it’s discouraging to women across the country. 45 presidents, only one has been a black man, and none of have been female. Clinton has worked her entire life in politics and yet was beaten by a man decided to run last year for fun. If anything, this election proved that no matter how experienced a woman can be she will always be beaten by a man. It’s sad that people prefer somebody running on unstable promises against minorities, than a woman who has years of experience to qualify for something as serious as the president.
The bottom line is that Trump ran a campaign based off hatred and fear and half of the country voted for him. Whether or not he can actually follow through and do what he promised such as deport 11 million immigrants or build a wall on the Mexican border that Mexico will pay for is irrelevant. 60 million people voted for this. Millennials and others don’t want him to be president because we are more scared of his followers than himself. Since Trump begun his presidential campaign, hate crimes against Muslims have spiked, resulting in over 100 annual cases of violence against Muslims. There are numerous cases of Trump supporters physically attacking Latinos, Muslim wearing Hijabs, and black people. Online, Trump supporters have made promises to attack POC’s, Clinton herself, and anyone against Trump. At his rallies, if someone shows up in protest, they usually do not leave without a punch to the face. Trump himself may not be a violent man, but his followers have shown their colors and it’s terrifying for those who are not rich white people.
Trump is not our president because we do not believe he is the best representative for this generation or this country. We do not dislike Trump because we want him to fail. Nobody wants him to fail, we want him to be the best president ever. We want him to surprise everyone with his developments. But at this current moment, we do not support his policies or opinions. We do not believe he best represents this country, and our only hope is that we’re incredibly wrong.
If you’re feeling helpless about how the next four years will go, whatever your opinion on our new president, get involved or seek help.
