Three hours into his presidency, Donald Trump wiped the White House webpage clean of issues surround health care, civil rights, climate change and LGBT rights. Three hours and he's already disregarding important issues surrounding the well-being of many people in America and the world.
It seems as if he has no intention of furthering and protecting those in the LGBT community and no intention of taking climate change seriously. The former civil rights page on the White House website was replaced with "Standing Up For Our Law Enforcement Community" and the climate change page was replaced with "An America First Energy Plan." There are, presently, no "replacement" pages for LGBT rights and health care.
According to his law enforcement policy, "one of the fundamental rights of every American is to live in a safe community. A Trump Administration will empower our law enforcement officers to do their jobs and keep our streets free of crime and violence. The Trump Administration will be a law and order administration." Trump has full intentions of supporting our officers — with no mention of protecting those who officers have been abusing.
Not all cops are bad. Most of them are rooted in good morals and have the intention of protecting everyone in the country, regardless of race, gender, identity. But there's undeniable proof that some officers in the country are abusing that power. Under a Trump administration, will we see only the cops protected and the people who were being abused will continue to be abused. There's no mention of securing protection for the people, no mention of consequence for the officers who have chosen to abuse their power.
Mr. Trump, how are you "making America great again" if you're willingly ignoring the needed protection of your people who are being abused by your officers? (Yes, they're yours now. You're in the big seat.)
Trump has replaced climate change with an energy plan that doesn't explicitly state that you think it's a hoax, but we don't need that. It's implied, and Trump said himself that he doesn't accept the scientific evidence that it exists.
According to his energy plan, "we’ve been held back by burdensome regulations on our energy industry. President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan," which called for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, the preservation of forests, the use of alternate fuels and increased the study of climate change. Instead, Trump wants to build up the coal industry, which has been "hurting for too long."
But where does this leave the LGBT community? Our health care? Obamacare may be broken, it may be flawed, but we can't deny that it did help millions of people. Trump can't just sweep the health care rug out from under 30 million people without having a replacement plan that's ready for action.
Mr. Trump, if you do, would you kindly share it before repealing every health care act you simply "don't like?" Before repealing the amendment that's requiring my insurance to cover my birth control so that my fiance and I don't accidentally have a child before we're ready?
And what are your plans for the LGBT community? Your vice president has a history of supporting conversion therapy, but I haven't heard any of your thoughts on this issue. They aren't on the website. In fact, all you did was wipe any remnants of hope that you would somewhat support this community. You're ignoring them all together. But I have friends and family who belong to this community — and I'd like to know what your plans are for them.
I'd also like to note that as the first day of Trump's America comes to a close, there also isn't a page listed for women's rights, nor are there pages for public education, homeless rates, combating sexual assault or combating domestic violence. Trump lists nothing about income and wealth inequality, the gender wage gap or making the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. (Perhaps this has to do with his tax records showing that he possibly avoided taxes?)
Mr. Trump, please explain why we're entering your administration with a blatant disregard for the rights of many of the lives in the country that you're now in charge of. If you're so keen on "making America great again," why aren't you caring for over half of its population? Will you ever care?
