On Wednesday morning, I awoke to the sound of rain spattering on the trees outside and the first thing I thought was “the sky is crying.” My boyfriend had been on his phone already for a few minutes and did not look over at me to tell me that Secretary Clinton had won the presidential election. I turned on my phone and the first screen that greeted me was Google’s election tracker, informing me that Mr. Trump had won. My heart plummeted. I felt a lot of things that morning. Among them, anxiety, confusion, disbelief and fear.
I spent a couple of days trying to understand all of the things I was feeling, trying to make sense of the inexplicable grief I felt knowing that Donald Trump has been voted President-elect. I came across his first post-Election Day tweet, “The forgotten man and woman will never be forgotten again.” For a brief moment I was confused, because the Obama administration has worked tirelessly to ensure that men, women, LGBTQ, people of color and the impoverished have not been forgotten. Then I wondered if the forgotten men and women he is referring to are not minorities, but the Americans who believe that minorities are the reason that our nation is apparently no longer great.
Coming of age during Obama’s presidency made me believe that freedoms essential to my identity and happiness are not only possible, but also protected by law. I saw my right to marry whomever I choose legalized. I was no longer subject to the whims of politicians who believe my sexuality is an affront to their values. I witnessed immense progress for the autonomy of women over their reproductive health. I saw, for the first time in my life, that the most influential woman in the country, Michelle Obama, was a minority and first-generation college student just like me. I witnessed, for the first time in history, our country’s greatest position of leadership won by a qualified candidate of color. I saw my piece of the American Dream.
From my understanding of the Trump campaign, my piece of the American Dream is illegitimate, invalid and should quickly be repealed. Both President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Pence have campaigned against women’s reproductive rights. Pence has gone so far as to explicitly say that it is his mission to overturn Roe v. Wade. His exceptions for abortion in cases of rape and incest essentially mean that I would have to be brutalized and violated before having any right to make that decision about my own body. This terrifies me. Earlier this year, President-elect Trump announced that if he were to win the election, he would likely fill Supreme Court Justice Scalia’s place with a justice who could overturn the Marriage Act of 2013, effectively rescinding a civil right that has been fought for and won. Furthermore, Trump has a history of discriminating against minority citizens, as demonstrated by his forceful removal of journalist Jorge Ramos during a campaign press conference, bidding him to “go back to Univision.” As a Mexican-American journalist, it infuriates me to think that the President-elect has set a precedent for discriminating against citizens of this country based on skin color and stereotypes.
These are just a handful of issues that were my priority during the election. I am critical of many of his other proposed policies because they seem devoid of forethought for the true consequences they will have on the country. From an economic standpoint, it alarms me that he is aiming to scale back free trade by removing the United States from NAFTA. From an ethical standpoint, it saddens me that he has sensationalized repealing the Affordable Care Act, which will strip approximately 20 million Americans of their healthcare and will not address insurance discrimination against pre-existing health conditions. From a logical standpoint, it bewilders me that he wants to halt hiring government employees when his proposed immigration reform would necessitate hiring millions more Immigration and Customs Patrol officers.
I fear the direction of the Trump administration because of the regressive nature of many of the policies Mr. Trump proposed. The majority of these policies are, at best, self-contradictory and at worst, redacting the hard-fought freedoms of those without the privilege of being a straight white man. In the face of his election, it’s painful to see so many citizens of our country reduced to glorified adolescents, calling each other names and hurling threats from behind a computer screen. Now, more than ever, it’s vital to realize that the result of this election will impact every person in the country for better or worse.
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