Women need to take back this election.

Donald Trump has consistently offended every minority group in the United States throughout his campaign--Arab people, black people, Latinx people, homosexuals, bisexuals, trans* people, asexuals, pansexuals, fat people, nonbinary people, ugly people, pretty people, I could go on for days--but only with the release of comments made 11 years ago on Access Hollywood are fellow Republicans abandoning their support of his bid for the presidency.

Why?

Republicans cannot win the election or a majority in Congress without the vote of white women.

The video includes audio of Trump saying the following: "I did try and f*ck her. She was married." "I moved on her like a b*tch, but I couldn't get there, and she was married." "She's now got the big phony tits..." "I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful--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 it. You can do anything." "Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

After several Republican politicians dropped their endorsements of Trump's presidential campaign--including Carly Fiorina, Senator John McCain, Governor John Kasich, Senator Rob Portman, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and at least 50 more--Trump made a public "apology" which was less of an apology and more of an attempt to cover up his own misdeeds by comparing them to President Bill Clinton's misdeeds during his presidency. Trump claimed he is a changed man since he said those comments, and that he should be forgiven since he said it so long ago. Secretary Hillary Clinton, according to Trump, should conversely not be forgiven for the actions of her husband 20 years ago.

What an interesting accusation.

Trump should not be accountable for his own words, but Secretary Clinton should be held accountable for someone else's?

As much as both campaigns are fear mongering--Trump making people fear America now and Secretary Clinton making people fear a potential Trump presidency--and so many media sources are proclaiming this the worst election season ever, there is a sentiment of truth in much of the hyperbole.

Despite countless statistics stating the United States is in the best economic shape it has been in in years and that we are safer now than we have been in decades, the public perception is the opposite. People fear we are unsafe. People think we are losing jobs and our economy is failing. While none of this is factually true, it is what people feel.

Comparatively, members of marginalized groups--as the Republican party becomes increasingly socially conservative--are specifically targeted with hate crimes and laws based on fallacies. Governor Mike Pence, Trump's Vice Presidential candidate, has been a champion for many of these laws, including Religious Freedom laws which encourage discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people, advocated for conversion therapy (including shock therapy and other medically unsafe and unsupported treatments), signed a law increasing the price of abortions in order for the aborted (or even miscarried) fetuses to be buried, and has advocated to de-fund Planned Parenthood to a dangerous degree.

But no one is worried about the factual increase of legislative oppression of minorities.

People are worried about problems which barely exist instead. This is why it is imperative that women--and other populations affected by oppression--vote!

Economic inequality, and thus the United State's economy as a whole, will not improve further if social inequalities are not addressed.

Women will not break glass ceilings and will not achieve proportional representation in politics if the people currently in politics do not show respect to women as a whole.

LGBTQIA+ people will never have equal rights if politicians continually protect discrimination instead of protecting peoples' lives.

People of color will never be able to walk safely in the streets without worrying if they will be greeted with violence.

For those who fit into any of these socially constructed labels, I humbly ask you to vote for Hillary Clinton. Not only is she the most qualified person to run for President in possibly decades, but she is also the candidate who will and has fought for your rights and your protections under the law. She, as every other candidate, has her flaws (including a history of perpetuating social inequalities), but she has listened to the people and changed her opinions and her platforms according to what we have demanded. That is a politician's job, and she has done her job with skill and grace. I firmly believe she will continue to do so.

So here is my message to Trump and all of his supporters:

You had better watch out, because on November 8th, pussy will grab back.

Women alone can determine the outcome of this election; we do, after all, make up 51% of the population. But if people of color, people of lower socioeconomic status, and the gender and sexual minority community all come together to support each other and vote for a candidate who supports us, we cannot lose. And we will not lose.