10 Examples of Why People Have Every Right to Fear Trump’s Presidency
I think the hardest thing about this election has been trying to make people understand that this is not about Hillary supporters or democrats being “sore losers.” This is not a typical election where one candidate wins and one loses, but all in all we know we are going to be fairly okay. People have legitimate reasons to be fearful. I have been trying to explain that what scares me most about a Trump presidency isn’t Trump himself; I think he’s terrible, I think he will be a bad president, and I think if something happens to him, Mike Pence may do even more damage than Trump himself. They could take us back socially 50+ years, but if things really get that bad, in four years we will fight back. We will eventually course-correct a bad president. What we can not course-correct is the millions of hateful, horrible people who now feel empowered to act on their hate because their president-elect essentially endorses it. This is a VERY SMALL collection of photos that have come across my social media just in the first 24 hours of Trump being elected.
I’m sure there will be many other similar and larger compilations put together in the coming weeks and months. But for now, I had to do my part to try to make people understand where the fear is coming from. Keep in mind, this is the tiniest of fractions of everything that has happened in the last 24 hours.
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The day after Trump was elected, I wrote this, and I think it is worth repeating here:
Will someone please tell me what I’m supposed to say?
How am I supposed to teach kids that it’s not okay to bully when they have just learned that being a bully gets you rewarded?
How am I supposed to teach young boys to respect women when their president doesn’t?
How am I supposed to teach young girls that they are equal when their president doesn’t think they are? Or that it’s never okay to let someone touch you without your consent, when their president bragged about doing so?
What am I supposed to say to veterans on Veterans Day this Friday, when the president elect has stated he “only likes people who weren’t captured” and disrespected a Gold Star Family because they were Muslim?
What am I supposed to say to kids I work with, or friends, colleagues, and classmates that I have that aren’t white, when a former KKK leader called Trump’s election “one of the most exciting nights of his life” and assured everyone that “his people” helped to get him elected?
What am I supposed to say to anyone I know who isn’t Christian? When this country was literally founded on the idea of religious freedom but the new president has talked about banning entire religions from entering and even RE-entering the country?
What am I supposed to say to any of my LGBT friends, who so recently (and much too late) had their marriages recognized under the law, knowing that under a Trump presidency that right could be taken away (and under a Pence presidency it almost certainly will be?)
What am I supposed to say to women who are pregnant and working, or working moms that may want to have more children, when their president called pregnancy and “inconvenience to employers?”
What am I supposed to say to friends who have family members that were personally impacted by WWII and Nazism, when they are scared that we are seeing history repeat itself and so am I?
What am I supposed to say if someone I know has a miscarriage, one of the most painful if not THE most painful things a woman can experience, knowing that under a Mike Pence presidency they may be forced to hold a full funeral for their unborn child even if that is not something they want to do?
What am I supposed to say to someone with a disability who just wants to feel included, when their president openly mocked someone with a disability?
What am I supposed to say to someone who is afraid that Trump will get into it with the wrong world leader and will start World War III when I myself believe that has at least a 75% chance of happening?
If someone could please tell me what to say, I would really appreciate it. My post last night admitted we had failed and apologized, but that just doesn’t feel like enough.
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Later, in a comment thread that emerged on my post, I noted the following: I think what I struggle with in that is there’s a lot of people who feel like they don’t fit in right now and I can’t say I blame them. As a white heterosexual cisgender able-bodied middle class US-born Christian-raised American, I don’t have much against me in a trump presidency, except for the fact that I’m a woman which really has already been against me my whole life. My day to day life probably won’t change much, aside from the fact that I don’t think the economy will do that great and that my job might be at risk because a lot of nonprofits get federal funds. But on the whole, I’m in a position of relative privilege. But people who don’t fall into those categories have a right to be fearful, and I am still processing and don’t really know how to help them feel better right now.
So if anyone has any ideas for me, I’m all ears. But for now, I want everyone in every marginalized group who may be experiencing anything like what is depicted in the 10 photos above, that I stand with you and I will always stand with you.
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*Edit: About 12 hours after I wrote this post, there were articles published saying the Lafayette student made up her story about being attacked. The article where I first read this news included the paragraph, “Despite this false report, other attacks on Muslim Americans have been reported since Tuesday. Authorities at San Diego State University said two suspects targeted a Muslim student on campus Wednesday because of her faith and made comments about Trump’s election. Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.”
It’s important to note that I chose 10 photos that had happened to come across my feed over the past 24 hours but there are hundreds if not thousands of similar stories being shared online. In times like this, there are always going to be a few false reports, but even if 1 or 2 of 10 are false, it still means 8 or 9 of 10 are true and I am not okay with 80–90% of this being true. Honestly, even if the reverse were the case, and ONLY 1 or 2 of these were true (which I highly doubt, but just playing devils advocate), I am not okay with even 10–20% of this being true. That said, if this student really did make this up, I 100% condemn her. There are people all over the country facing true violence, and to make up a story like this makes people cast doubt upon everyone and distracts from a very serious issue.
[side note: I hope this serves as an example to people who seem to be confused about how to condemn a specific aspect of something while still staying true to your overall point and principles. Just saying.]
