If you asked me how insane I think the president is on a scale of one to ten, I’d tell you an eleven. There is no question. Those memes of him watching the School House Rock videos trying to figure out how a law gets past- I’m convinced it’s real. So far, the worries everyone had about him being in office are becoming real and the people who said to give him a chance are rethinking their opinions. One of the many things he did (ruined?) was create the “alternative fact”.

Kellyanne Conway used it in an interview when describing the crowd of people that attended Trump’s inauguration. One excuse for this is that supposedly he had less of an audience because all of his fans were out working… But like, didn’t the Mexicans steal all of their jobs…? The idea of an “alternative fact” is that it ALTERS the FACT. It’s an altered fact.

If you ask officials, and by this I mean anyone not part of Donald Trump’s administration, an altered fact isn’t quite a fact at all. So therefore, it’s not a fact and didn’t actually happen, but people are swearing it did while knowing it didn’t. Well I believe my kindergarten teacher told me that’s a lie. But because officials use the term “alternative fact” it’s okay. I must admit that it sounds better than saying “Trump is using lies to comment on the number of people that attended the inauguration.” Come on, even I know that’s bad publicity. But maybe not commenting at all would have been a better idea.

So, Trump’s first lesson to the world is saying that it’s okay to lie as long as you’re not publicizing that it’s a lie. A big lesson for kids is learning that lying is not okay but now we’re going to sound pretty stupid if we say, “ALTERNATIVE FACTS ARE NOT OKAY” when they tell us the dog ate the broccoli off of their plate. Boom, your three year old's biggest word just went from ‘dinosaur’ to ‘alternative’.

Therefore, if the person in the highest seat in the nation can lie and get away with it while people know it’s not true, why can’t we all?

Since they are no longer lies, here are an example of alternative facts college students can/ probably do use daily.

To the teachers:

1. I care about this 5-7-page paper.
2. I already started the paper due tomorrow.
3. This textbook is literal gold.
4. You should give us more homework.
5. No I’m not hung-over.
6. So in love with this class.
7. This project is definitely necessary.
8. The book is as fun as you said it would be.
9. Everyone in the class likes being here at 9am.

To the parents:

1. Love college.
2. I want to come home.
3. I have straight As.
4. Wish you guys were here.
5. I live in the library.
6. That picture was from a study group, not a party.
7. No he’s not my boyfriend.
8. My bed time is 11, no later.
9. No, I don’t sleep past noon on Saturdays.

To ourselves:

1. Your metabolism is doing great- no need for the gym.
2. The paper is doable the day before it’s due.
3. Going out before your 9am tomorrow morning is such a good idea.
4. It wasn’t you who puked in their basement last night.
5. Pizza is just bread, cheese and tomatoes- so much healthy.
6. Wait, but you need the new sweatshirt everyone has from the bookstore.
7. The teacher won’t actually take points off if you skip class again.
8. That was such an intense workout.
9. Oh it’s only 9pm.