I have been on the fence about who my vote will go towards for the 2016 Presidential Election in November. I am a registered Republican and share the same beliefs that many Republicans do, therefore I wanted to stay loyal with my party's choice for a candidate. I am not a big fan of Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump, I believe that both are terrible choices for our country. They both have flaws and say things I do not agree with. And I do not know that much about the Libertarian Candidate, Gary Johnson to even consider him, although that will change. I have seen both positive and negative aspects from each candidate, but still had no idea who I was going to vote for. However, I was always taught that if you do not vote, you can not complain about the choices made by the government, so therefore not voting is not an option for me.
This past weekend there was a video leaked by "The Washington Post" of Donald Trump from 2005 , talking about how he can sexually assault a female because he is famous, along with many other derogatory comments. The video revealed Donald Trump saying the following: "I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there, and she was married... You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful women- I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do that. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy."
Shortly after the video was released, Donald Trump released an "apology video," if that is what you want to call it. Here is a shortened version of what he said: "I don't pretend to be someone I'm not... Anyone who knows me, knows these words don't reflect who I am. I've traveled the country talking about change for America, but my travels have changed me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow, and will never ever let you down... I've said some foolish things, but there's a big difference between the words and the actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women, and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed, and intimidated his victims."
When the topic was brought up during the second presidential debate Sunday night, Donald Trump avoided the question. Anderson Cooper asked Donald Trump, "You've bragged that you sexually assaulted women, do you understand that?" To which Donald Trump responded with, "No I didn't say that, I don't think you understand what was said. It was locker room talk. I have nothing but respect for women, no one respects women more than me." When Andreson Cooper asked him if he ever groped women without consent, Trump responded with, "No...Look at Bill Clinton, he's far worse, mine are words and his are actions. Nobody in the nation has been more abusive to women than him."
Like I said before, I was on the fence about who I was going to vote for before this video came out. I'm now embarrassed to admit that I was considering voting for Donald Trump after seeing this horrific video. It is not just this video that has led me to this point, but this video is what done me in completely. While Donald Trump might not actually be coming out and saying, "Yeah, I sexually assaulted her", what he is describing is sexual assault. For anyone that does not see that or see a problem with this, needs to seriously take a hard look in the mirror, because there should be no question about if this is ok or not. What is even worse, is when he says he can sexually assault women, simply because he's famous. There is no difference between what Bill Clinton did and what Donald Trump is describing when it comes to this. There is a quote that I heard when I was younger: "If you're going to say something, you might as well do it because saying and thinking it is no different than actually doing it." I fully believe that if Trump was able to talk about doing such activities to women so easily, then he would have no problems actually going through with it and doing these things.
Using the excuse that this comment is nothing but "locker room banter that happened over a decade ago" and is no big deal, is complete and total bull crap. He's not saying, "oh look at the butt on that girl" or "that girl has a nice chest". What he is describing in this video is sexual assault, period. He is talking about grabbing her. It's not locker room banter or jock talk, it is the very definition of rape culture. His pathetic excuse for it being just "locker room banter" is no different than saying, "boys will be boys" when talking about why women get raped. Donald Trump's comment about being able to sexually assault women because he is a celebrity and has money, is what promotes rape culture and makes other people think it's okay to keep doing this. And no, he has not changed. He was not a 20 year old, reckless kid still developing his character and morals when he said this, he was sixty year old grown man. His character and outlook on women was already developed. When you have this type of outlook on women for this long, there is no changing it at a snap of your finger.
Donald Trump claims to be a changed man that respects women more than anyone else, but still verbally and mentally abuses them with his rude tweets, interviews, and comments. Respecting women is not calling them fat, ugly pigs. Respecting women is not making fun of them because they have menstrual cycles. Respecting women is not sexualizing them and talking about her physical features. Respecting women is not calling them "disgusting" because they have to breastfeed their newborn baby. Respecting women is not telling them they would not have a certain job if they wasn't beautiful. Donald Trump, I don't know what you may think respecting women means, but I can assure you, it is not what you are doing right now. You claim to have changed since the eleven years this was posted, but you still verbally abuse women. There may not be any physical proof of you sexually assaulting women, but there is more than enough proof of you verbally assaulting them, which is no better.
Sexual assault against women is a very serious topic. It's not something to make jokes about or to be taken lightly. We live in a time where more women are choosing to be silent and not report their sexual assault because the chances of their offender paying the consequences are very few. This isn't the first time Donald Trump has made ignorant comments related to sexual assault. In a tweet from 2013 he wrote, "26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military only 238 convictions. What do you expect when men and women work together?". I don't work in the military, however this comment about sexual assault shows just how ignorant Donald Trump is on the topic. When doing an interview with USA Today columnist, Kristen Powers, he stated that if Ivanka and other women are sexually harassed at work, they (the victim) should find another company or place to work at. We've come a long way since the beginning of the Women's Rights Movement. More awareness and support of women is being developed about violence against women and sexually assaulting women. I fully believe that having Donald Trump as our president when he makes these comments even now as a presidential candidate, will set America back with women's rights and how they are treated.
Let's pretend Donald Trump won the election and became president, for a moment. A lot of kids look up to the President of the United States as a hero and someone who is highly respected and successful. Kids are going to see someone who bullied not just women but people of different ethnicities, people with mental illnesses, people who are overweight as a good leader. They are going to think a good leader can do whatever they want if they are well liked or because they have money. They are going to think a good leader is someone who calls other people they don't like rude names and bully them. Most importantly, they are going to think it's okay to sexualize and sexually assault women, because our president did it. This country was enraged about the Brock Turner case and the results of it. If anyone thinks that there's not going to be more of this happening if Donald Trump wins, then you are seriously delusional.
Just a couple of months ago we saw the Republican Party go crazy over the idea of transgendered people using the bathroom they most identify with as being their gender. The Republican Party was saying comments like, "they're going to molest our kids" or "they're going to rape women" as an excuse to not allow it. It's good to know that the Republican Party is not okay when a person that's transgendered sexually assaults someone, but it is totally acceptable when our Presidential Candidate has a history of making comments about sexually assaulting someone and doesn't do a darn thing. The Republican Party doesn't want to have to explain to their kids why two people of the same gender are kissing each other in public, but apparently doesn't mind explaining to their little girls why men think it's ok to touch them inappropriately.
After the video of him descibing how he'd sexually assault women was brought into the light, more and more women, of all ages, are coming out saying they are a victim of his "locker room talk". A lot of Trump's supporters are claiming that these women are lying or making it up just because the video surfaced. However, it is not something that is uncommon when the offender sexually assaults more than one person. It usually takes one person standing up against their offender, to make others want to do this. So no, I do not think these women are lying about their sexual assault. We heard this week how Trump would walk into the dressing rooms of his pagents while the ladies are changing, how he told a woman interviewing him that they would have an affair after the interview, and how he sexually assaulted a woman sitting beside him on a plane. And that is just the three stories I have already read about, there's many more.
The biggest defense for his words in this tape and what he is describing that I have heard, is "they're just words, they don't reflect his actions and what he'll really do." Well if that is the case, then I would not hold my breath on that wall if I was a Trump supporter, or any of the other promises he's made to our country, since his words don't reflect his actions and what he'll do. If you're going to argue that his words in that video, tweets, and interviews mean nothing when he is belittling, degrading, and sexualizing women then you need to evaluate the words he's made on the campaign trail and during the debates. You can't argue one being false and the other not.
Like I said before, my reason for not supporting Donald Trump is more than just because of his comments about sexually assaulting women and his demeaning comments about them. Another reason I refuse to support Trump, is because of his comments referring to John McCain about our American soldiers who are held captive not being considered heroes, because "heroes don't get caught". I'm sorry but I'm so tired of hearing about Hillary and the Benghazi attack. If you think for one second that Donald Trump is going to send a rescue team to rescue our men and women being held captive when he doesn't even view them as heroes, you are extremely naive. Yes Hillary Clinton not sending help to our men in Benghazi is terrible, and not right either. However, I refuse to believe the fantasy that so many Trump supporters believe that it's not going to happen again with Trump. I'm not saying it's not going to happen again with Hillary as president either.
Another reason I refuse to get on the Trump wagon is because he has no real plans. He has all kinds of promises he's going to do like better the economy, create jobs, defeat ISIS, and so on and so on. But the only policy plan he has is his wall that's going to be built on Mexico's dime. He has not said how he is going to defeat ISIS, he has not said how he's going to help our men and women overseas, and when asked about his policy ideas, he avoids the question. When asked about his plans to help our soldiers who suffer from PTSD, he responded with "they need help." He didn't give any policy ideas or explain how he is going to help them. He's not prepared to be president. It's far more than just making trade deals with other countries, it's deciding when we go to war and when we don't, it's deciding on healthcare plans for the citizens, it's deciding if we help our allying countries who are being attacked by other countries or terrorist groups, it's helping the lower class citizens of America not get screwed over. If you think for one second Trump is going to look out for any other income class besides his own, you're seriously mistaken. Especially when he's been a person in the high-income class all his life.
Like I said before, I still don't know who I am going to vote for. However, this video has put such a negative view of Trump in my head that I can not get past or convince myself that he would be the better choice. I was a victim of sexual assault when I was sixteen years old, when I was volunteering, doing something I am passionate about, that is viewed as a "man's world." When I reported it, I was told that I brought it on myself because I had a friendly personality, and I was in a man's world and needed to suck it up or leave. It took my offender trying to do it with someone younger than I before he finally was punished and forced to leave. Since then, I've seen the people of authority at that place do everything they can to prevent that from happening again to other women there. It has taken some time, but sexual harassment against women is finally being viewed as a negative thing when in a male environment. My biggest fear is that people will see Trump's behavior toward women, hear the comments he makes towards women and still think that it's okay; this will set back the negative views of sexual assault against women that we've worked so hard to create. That's not a risk I want to take. That doesn't mean I'm voting for Hillary either, Bill Clinton's actions and Hillary's belittling of his victims is not okay no matter the shape or form. They both are terribly wrong. However, because of Trump's comment along with his many other faults that I don't support, I'm refusing to vote for Donald Trump in this presidential election.
