When Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States, I was only 16 years old but heavily interested in politics. I became interested in the Republican primaries in the summer of 2015 when a few people online were buzzing about Rand Paul's presidential bid. After he dropped out after the Iowa Caucus, I was pretty lost politically.

I knew from the start Donald Trump was a liar who said awful things on the news and that a lot of his supporters were racists. As he won primary after primary and became the nominee, I couldn't help but get on board. I was in part drawn to Trump's unorthodox charisma. I was drawn to how he effortlessly proved the spineless cowardliness of the Republican establishment by humiliating Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. I wanted him to do the same to Hillary Clinton.

However, I couldn't help but feel suspicious at how the Democratic primary ended. I believed the right-wing propaganda hate-machine that was trying to destroy her. That was my biggest mistake, and while I believe that she is a corrupt politician who is mainly interested in the views of corporations and big banks, I do believe most politicians are like that.

The status quo would have been better than what we have now.

Defending Trump has been a great challenge for me because, in my heart, I always knew what he said and did was wrong. It started with the campaign rhetoric. I felt gross defending Trump when he mocked a disabled reporter or that time when he said he could shoot somebody and not lose any supporters.

When he attacked the military service of John McCain.

When he suspected a female reporter of menstruating when she asked him tough questions.

\When he attacked a gold star family.

When a tape was released of him saying he could get away with sexually assaulting women.

Not to mention how he and his campaign elevated the reputation and credibility of far-right conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones. Of course, nobody can forget all of the awful rhetoric about African-American celebrities and their "low iq's" or the hate his campaign fueled against immigrants and Muslims.

I could dismiss this as campaign rhetoric, which is in itself a mistake because it is wrong to support for campaigns like that, but since taking office, Trump has favored policies that are discriminatory in nature. Mr. Trump's presidency is a threat to the rights of African-Americans, Muslim-Americans, Latino-Americans, LGBTQIA+ Americans, American women, and any American living in poverty.

However, the greatest detractor for me was the direction the American right-wing is being pushed as a result of Trump and his policies. Trump is not a conservative, he is a fascist. Trump ran as a Republican and courts with people like those in the Freedom Caucus because he wants to shrink the government to give more power to the executive branch. Trump has legitimized and gave a platform to the American far-right.

One only needs to look at his supporters:

Stephen Miller, his top adviser and speechwriter has been the architect for most of the administration's attacks on immigrants.

Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General who is spearheading the domestic policy agenda that could undo civil rights in this country.

Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist who called his former website, Breitbart, the "platform of the alt-right."

Nigel Farage, the leader of the U.K.'s Brexit movement who recently said Americans should be more worried about "Jews" than Russia, not to mention the numerous racists who openly cheer for him in the press.

Trump has led the GOP to where it has been headed since the Tea Party began, towards a form of right-wing extremism that all decent well-meaning people should denounce.

I know I am young and my views will continue to change, but where I go politically will always be rooted in my love for this country and my desire to understand and help my fellow citizens.