Donald Trump has been a controversial candidate since day one, and it's always been my thought that his campaign was a joke. I say that with complete seriousness because I can't quite believe some of the things he says and tweets. But as we move farther along in election season and get closer to November, it's becoming a reality for me that he has a chance of being elected.
Being a young person, soon-to-be college student, and being super liberal, I hate the idea of Donald Trump being elected. Just like someone on the other side of the political spectrum may hate the idea of Clinton being elected. But in trying to being a realist, and seeing more and more "Make America Great Again" bumper stickers and hats, I have to think less of my fear of someone who has been bankrupt five times and is entirely racist being the president and more of what that could mean for my children and my children's children.
As the days go on, I think about those ideas and those results that could potentially change my view of America. How greatly one person like Trump in the White House could impact the future and where we stand globally. And as the news came in that he had selected a VP, I couldn't help but revert back to fear for the future.
Mike Pence, current governor of Indiana, is an interesting pick for Trump, but to me, not surprising. On his list was Christie, Gingrich, and Pence. It is rumored that Trump deliberated down to the very late hours of the night on the day he made the decision. And the decision to pick Pence makes me worry more and more about the outcome of the election this fall.
As a young woman, it's really scary to look into the voting record Pence has not only with regard to abortions but with a woman's right to choose and women's health in general. He consistently is pro-life, anti-choice, and anti-abortion. As governor of Indiana, he didn't support funding for Planned Parenthood, where women go more often for healthcare and important exams than abortions anyway. Whether or not you support abortion, it's important to know and understand that Planned Parenthood keeps women healthy and provides women at risk with the care they need.
On top of women's health, he is truly anti-gay. It is my hope that Americans will remember last year's historic implementation of legislation in Indiana, supported and forced (nearly) by Pence, to allow businesses to discriminate on the basis of sexuality or gender, in who they wish to serve. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was truly destructive. If a leader who wished to force that kind of legislation enters the White House, we're in trouble.
And when it comes to our kids, schools, and the environment, he is known to have an anti-public education stance and has refused funding for progressive initiatives that would better schools in his state, like grants for Black and Hispanic colleges and funding for green public schools. Greenpeace also reports that Pence pushed further offshore drilling after the BP disaster, "[refused] to implement President Obama's groundbreaking Clean Power Plan," and back in 2014 still wasn't willing to admit that climate change was a reality. While this pick doesn't shock me for the Trump campaign, it shocks me that this is really what we have on our ballot for 2016- can't we all agree that the icecaps are melting in 2016?!
All of this makes me wonder what we're getting ourselves into. I wonder about the friends and people I've met who think Trump is simply better because he speaks his mind and because he's real. If being real and honest is being a racist and being willing to pick a VP that doesn't vote on behalf of kids, women, and the environment, then you've got what you wanted. I think it's so important that people see Pence's voting record and see the monster campaign Trump has created, and to also remember where we were in 2008, and how much the Obama administration has done to repair the damage to our country we lived with back then.
Pence being Trump's pick makes me think of the future with fear, and it's my greatest hope that Americans will see through the Twitter banter and comedy that comes from the Trump campaign to realize he is so far from the leader we need.
