Fear

Over the past few years, President Trump's administration has manipulated less diverse areas of the U.S. through encouraging fear of the unknown. In promoting policies and narratives that tell Americans to be afraid of Muslim communities and undocumented immigrants, President Trump has used fear to gain followers who want protection from these over-exaggerated, baseless "threats to our way of life."

In 2017, Trump tried to enact his campaign-promised "Muslim ban." The original version of the ban was blocked after federal courts ruled that the executive orders were unconstitutional. Since then, the Trump Administration has supported extreme vetting of nationals from Muslim countries, limited Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for banned countries, capped refugee admissions and banned certain groups of asylum-seekers.

Trump has also developed a large portion of his campaign around the slogan "build a wall" on the basis that undocumented immigrants and asylum-seekers coming to the United States from Mexico are "bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."

Through purposefully creating a renewed fear of immigrants, he has characterized an entire group of people based solely on a few cases and sparked public outrage about the amount of immigrants coming into the country, even though more undocumented immigrants and asylum-seekers are coming to the United States because they are fleeing war, crime, or violence in their home countries.

Hatred

Trump has consistently pitted groups against one another in order to advance his own personal interests.

In March of 2019, Trump announced the imminent beginning of a transgender ban in the military. The National Center for Transgender Equality explains: "The instructions state[d]that any of the thousands of current transgender service members who come out, or is found out, after April 12 [2019] and is not willing to renounce and suppress their identity will be subject to discharge."

Veterans and those who serve in our military put their lives on the line for our freedom, and the Trump administration chose to punish some of the brave men and women who serve in the military simply because of their gender identity.

Despite statements to the contrary, there has been no research supporting the claim that transgender members of the military cost the government any significant money, and there is no legitimate reason behind this ban besides a clear hatred and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community. Polls indicate a majority of Americas support transgender people's right to serve in the military.

Again, Trump has fostered and encouraged hatred of those who are different from the societal norm and has used this hatred to pander to his audience.

Racism

If you do not believe Trump is racist, you are in denial.

Trump clearly discriminates against non-white Americans. He has called places like Africa "shithole countries," attacked others just because of their race, and stereotyped entire ethnic groups and religions in order to spur support from racist areas of the U.S. When Trump told the "squad" of freshman Democratic congresswomen of color to "go back" to where they came from, his fan base was ecstatic.

Many Trump supporters say that they support him because he "doesn't worry about being politically correct." However, if choosing to be "politically correct" is choosing not to use racist, hateful slurs and phrases, then supporting a candidate who "doesn't worry about being politically correct" is supporting a candidate who makes racist comments.