I have accepted the fact that Donald Trump is our next president, but I do not support it. I will never stand behind a man who degrades and does not fully support women, people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, and anyone else, for that matter. Many people will say “you only voted for Hillary because she is a woman.” That is not the truth. I voted for Hillary because her beliefs for the future of the United States best matched my own. While there are many reasons why I don’t support Donald Trump, and many of these issues are equal in importance, I’m going to focus on the issue that I can personally speak for: women’s rights.
Let’s start out with some of the many atrocious comments that Donald Trump has made about women:
Louise Sunshine, who worked for Trump starting in the mid-1970s, recalls that he kept an unflattering photograph—she calls it a “fat picture,” that he pulled out when she did something that he did not like. Sunshine says that it was “a reminder that I wasn’t perfect.”
In 1991, Trump spoke to Esquire magazine about the media, saying “you know, it doesn’t really matter what [they] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”
In a 1994 interview with ABC News, Trump shows his views on the roles of women: he says “I have days where, if I come home— and I don’t want to sound too much like a chauvinist, but when I come home and dinner’s not ready, I go through the roof.” He goes on to say “I think that putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing.” We should not be supporting a president who thinks that the women’s place is in the kitchen rather than the workforce.
In 1997, Trump purchased the beauty pageant Miss USA, and he said to Howard Stern, “they said, ‘how are you going to change the pageant?’ I said ‘I’m going to get the bathing suits to be smaller and the heels to be higher.’”
In a 2006 episode of The View, Trump says “if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps i’d be dating her.”
In 2015, he made comments on journalist Megyn Kelly, who hosted the first Republican debate of the US presidential campaign and brought up previous claims of sexism against him. Trump called her a “bimbo” on Twitter and later said in a CNN interview “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever,” suggesting that her questioning was a result of her menstruating.
And in 2016, it was clear to anyone watching the first presidential debate that Trump was informal and disrespectful towards Hillary Clinton, interrupting her 25 times within the first 26 minutes.
Also in 2016, a video emerged of Trump talking about “grabbing [women] by the p****.”
And Trump says that “no one has more respect for women than he does.” All of these disrespectful and objectifying comments on women, meanwhile he calls Hillary Clinton a ‘nasty woman.’ You can look at even more of his degrading comments towards women here.
The sexual misconduct in relation to Trump is not hard to believe after the comments he has made, saying “when you’re a star, they let you do it.” He has publicly shamed his victims and denied the accusations, and he has dismissed allegations as “locker room banter.” Trump’s actions toward this matter are frightening; if the future president denies accusations yet has shown multiple times that he is not afraid to objectify women, it is likely that many others will feel that it is okay to follow in his footsteps.
With those comments Trump made, it’s hard to believe that he views women equal to men. He claims that he pays men and women the same wages at his company, and he says “women should have absolute access to capital. If they do the same job, they should get the same pay.” But Trump has not outlined any policies or actions he would take in reducing the wage gap, and in June, The Boston Globe revealed that Trump was paying men on his campaign staff one-third more than he was paying women.
With his views on abortion, it is clear that Trump is not in favor of women’s rights over their own bodies and lives. There is talk over the possible overturning of the 1973 court decision of Roe vs. Wade, which made abortion services safer and more accessible to women. Trump has the ability to appoint Supreme Court justices, and he has stated in the final 2016 presidential debate, “I feel that the justices that I am going to appoint— and I’ve named 20 of them— the justices that I’m going to appoint will be pro-life. They will have a conservative bent.” Moderator Chris Wallace says “Do you want to see the court overturn Roe v. Wade?” Trump responds “well, if we put another two or perhaps three justices on, that’s really what’s going to be— that will happen. And that’ll happen in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the court.” There is a high possibility that Trump will appoint a judge; the average retirement age for a Supreme Court justice is 78. Liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg (83), Stephen Breyer (78), and Anthony Kennedy (80), who is a conservative who often sides with liberals on major cases, are prone to replacement, whether through retirement or death in office. If Trump were to replace any of these judges, the court would shift to more of the conservative side, most likely favoring the overturn of Roe vs. Wade. This decision will set the United States back; women should have full consent and control over their own bodies.
Donald Trump does not represent what I stand for, and I will not support him as the president. I will stand for my own rights and those of others who may be negatively affected by the Trump presidency. Although the upcoming four years may be difficult, we must all stand together and support equality and love. In her concession speech, Hillary Clinton says “you will have successes and setbacks, too. This loss hurts, but, please, never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it.” After all, love trumps hate.
