When the word ‘presidential’ is thrown around, what are we supposed to think of? For me, personally, ‘presidential’ is supposed to encompass a person who can elegantly lead a nation through crises, speaks with class and intelligence, and is a humble human and decent public servant.
Since 2016, the word ‘presidential’ has seemingly lost its meaning.
Donald Trump’s entire 2016 campaign was built upon tearing others down. Everyone knows about his fierce desire to make Mexico build a wall — did that ever happen, by the way? I don’t see him campaigning based upon a wall these days… I digress. The way in which Donald Trump speaks – about groups of people, about nations, about a disease that has killed 220,000 Americans – is hateful, harmful, and detrimental to a country that has already been divided from the start. I am voting to erase language used by the ‘leader’ of the United States that fuels hate groups and further divides us.
In the recent presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Donald Trump made numerous jabs at Joe Biden. From making negative comments about Biden constantly wearing a mask (during a pandemic…like that’s not the right thing to do… I digress, again), to calling Biden stupid, to dozens of other insults, one stuck out the most to me. Trump made jabs at Joe Biden’s son, who is an addict. Using someone’s child who has suffered from addiction as a negative talking point in a political debate is the lowest of the low. It is also puzzling how Trump’s administration claims it is doing the most to help the opioid epidemic, while Trump is simultaneously making fun of an addict on national television. Addiction is a disease. Those battling it deserve sympathy. Trump using Biden’s son was a slap in the face to so many of us who have watched our friends and family struggle with addiction, or those of us who have personally experienced it. This language used by the commander-in-chief further dehumanizes those struggling with addiction.
Trump’s language is nothing short of disgusting, and it is difficult to find a starting point in dissecting it. However, as a woman in the United States, one of the first – of so, so, so many – things that Trump said that disturbed me was his classic line: “grab ‘em by the p***y”. The way he speaks about women is simply how he feels about them, point blank. He is constantly tearing down women based on their appearance, their sexual history, and making sexual comments toward them. In response to Trump telling a contestant on his show that she would be a ‘pretty picture on her knees’ and gloating over the fact that he has called women disgusting animals, he said that America is too politically correct. Really? This is the type of behavior toward women that we want in the leader of our country? Absolutely not.
While if I wrote about all of the disgusting things Donald Trump has said about people that are not straight, white, Republican men, this article would be dozens of pages long, there is one more point in specific I would like to touch on. When Donald Trump was deliberately mocking a disabled reporter, made offensive gestures, and altered his voice to mock him. This ableist and sickening scene from the leader of the United States is unacceptable. How is the leader of a country able to point out the flaws of someone disabled, and what does that say about us as a community if we re-elect someone who thinks this is okay?
I am voting to erase the harm that Trump has done to America. I do not believe that Joe Biden is the best candidate that represents what I believe, nor am I a huge fan. However, if there is anything I can do in order to stop this trifling language toward anyone that isn’t a straight, white, CIS male, I will. And for this reason, I am voting. I am voting to get that hateful man out of the highest seat in the United States. I believe that we have incredible amounts of work to do in the US to tear down the system that was built upon racism, sexism, and colonialism, and that Donald Trump and his language alone is pushing us even further away from a revolution we desperately need.