Donald Trump is not my president. Donald Trump is not the president for women. He is not the president for members of the LGBTQ+ community. He is not the president for African Americans, Latinos, Hispanics, or Muslims. He is not the president for disabled people.
I'm writing this on November 9th, 2016. The day after the strangest election the United States has ever seen. I'm still in shock. I'm still waiting to wake up from this dream and for someone to tell me that over 50 million people didn't actually vote for one of the most racist, sexist, homophobic people I've ever seen.
Donald Trump has been in the spotlight long enough this election season that I'm aware of his disturbing views and it's not surprising to me anymore. What is surprising to me is that over 50 million people actually agreed with Trump enough that they made the conscious decision to mark his name on a ballot. All of the polls and senior political analysts thought for sure that Clinton would win, so where did all of these hidden Trump supporters come from? As an angry millennial, it's pretty easy to put the blame on the older generations because that's where most of Trump's support comes from, but some of Trump's support comes from my own generation. Straight, white young men who are ashamed to admit publicly that they support Trump because their liberal friends will ridicule them could be responsible for this unexpected result. I want to emphasize that I know many wonderful straight, white men who think Donald Trump is just as terrible and disgusting as I do. I'm not trying to be a feminist that hates men because that's not feminism, but the rape culture that is spread among young men is exactly what fueled Trump's success. Secret Trump supporters aren't bothered by Trump's disturbing remarks toward women because they know they're thinking that themselves. Why do you think sexual assault happens so much on college campuses? Because that type of entitlement is running through fraternities.
As someone who goes to a liberal arts university in Massachusetts, I do think my fellow liberals and I should be nicer to people on the political right. They shouldn't have to hide their views out of fear of ridicule. Everyone is entitled to their own political views, but if you know that your views are going to upset a lot of people, shouldn't that say something about how damaging those views actually are? Muslims, immigrants, African-Americans, and LGBTQ+ folk are fearing for their lives right now knowing Trump will become president in January (apparently, half of Twitter believes the transition of power happens the day after the election). As a white and straight person, a Trump presidency won't affect me that much, but it could as a woman. For straight, white men, a Trump presidency will barely affect them in a negative way, but we have to think beyond ourselves. Think of our friends in marginalized groups who are afraid of deportation, religious bans, or conversion therapy (yeah, Mike Pence, our new Vice President, thinks electric shock therapy will turn gay people straight). We have to think about our privilege when we vote. We have to think about the safety of others when we vote. When marginalized groups are upset about this evil man becoming president, we cannot silence them.
Today I feel ashamed to be white. Today I feel ashamed to be an American.
