It hasn't even been two weeks since the Trump Administration took office, and a majority of Americans have already become fed-up with Trump's first actions as president. He has managed to anger women, Natives, environmentalists, immigrants, Mexican Americans, journalists, and thousands of others with his policies. The nationwide uproar against our new president has been historically monumental, and only seven days into the presidency, polls show his approval ratings as low as 36%.
Now, I'm all for being open-minded and giving our nation's president respect and a chance at becoming great. I'm all for unity and trying to rise above dividing political parties—we're all in the same boat after all. On the aftermath of November 8, after I got over the phase where my heart was sinking from disbelief and I was deeply worried about what was to come, I was looking at countless news stories about our president-elect. I was holding on to a hope that he would become more moderate with his newly gained power, that he would take the trust of the American people and become more presidential and worthy of genuine dependability. But there is a reason President Trump has such a low starting approval rate. There is a reason people like me don't trust him to do the job he was appointed to.
Needless to say, Trump has not become more moderate. He has begun to turn our great country of freedom and equality into a place that is, to many of us, unrecognizable. Since when are journalists not allowed to report news and organizations like the EPA and USDA allowed to be blocked from conveying information to the public? What about the first amendment? Since when can a president send in the "feds" to seize a state's rights? What about the tenth amendment? Since when are citizens accepting a president's hinting at voter suppression laws? What about democracy?
These issues don't even touch upon "leftist" issues of civil rights or the environment that he plans to destroy. He has already removed climate change from the White House page, implying he has no plan to protect the environment from the dangers of global warming. He has already infringed upon issues of women's reproduction rights by reinstating the global gag order. He has already made plans to continue the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, disrespecting the land of Native Americans and devaluing the needs of the environment. And that's only the start of it, folks. It's only been a week of President Trump.
This is a man who is still whining about losing the popular vote. This is a man who is insecure about the size of the crowd at his inauguration. This is a man who called Chicago a "war zone worse than Afghanistan." This is a man who believes climate change is a hoax, regardless of how much scientific backing it has.
I would love to look to our new president with optimism. I would love to give this man with no political experience a chance to be a fresh face in Washington. I would love to put my strong political views aside and root for him to make this country "great." But it's only been a week, and Donald Trump has managed to go against every thing I believe in, as a feminist, as a humanitarian, as an environmentalist, as a writer, and as an American. I can no longer try to blindly support him because of his title. Our rights come first.
