Since the moment our current president was elected into office we have heard the same cries over and over. “Give him a chance”, they say. “Give him time.” “He will keep his promises.”
I’ve been doing exactly what they keep telling me to do. I’ve been giving him a chance. I’ve been patiently waiting for my mind to change and I keep waiting to have this overwhelming feeling that he will do as he has promised on the campaign trail and unite the divided country that we currently call home.
But I feel this country is becoming more and more broken with each and every passing day.
Just hours after his inauguration Donald Trump signed an executive order that has the potential to dismantle sections of the Affordable Care Act before a replacement has been created.
Next came the promise of a wall. A wall which does much more harm than good by directing billions of dollars to a giant piece of concrete that not only could have horrific environmentally effects but would not even have an effect on the majority of illegal immigrants who come to this country, legally, on an airplane. A wall that Mexico has sworn they will not reimburse our government for. A wall we will pay for with our tax dollars.
Then, numerous executive orders came down with the intention of restarting the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL pipelines.
Then came the Muslim Ban, an order that makes me hurt just to think about. This ban stops those traveling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to enter this country in hopes of preventing lethal terrorism on U.S. soil. However, as stated by Greg Myre, “No Muslim extremist from any of these places has carried out a fatal attack in the U.S. in more than two decades.” Hate does not stop hate.
With each of these executive orders, I have felt a rift in this nation. There are those who rally behind our president with pride and those who are angry and afraid and continually mortified by what our country is becoming.
Does it seem like he is uniting this country to you?
Saturday, when the Muslim Ban went into effect I sat and I read beautiful stories of those who found refuge here many years ago, and I read the heart-wrenching stories of those who were turned away from this country during World War II and later killed. All I could think about was how the rest of the world must be thinking of us right now.
Do you think we look brave and full of pride to them?
Yeah, I don’t really think so.
When do we stop giving President Donald Trump a chance? When do we stop making excuses for the behavior of our president?
We are a country built on immigration and diversity. The fathers of this nation were immigrants themselves who came and grew this country from dirt. When did we forget who we are and where we came from?
I wanted you to prove me wrong, Mr. President.
