Trigger Warning: mentions of sexual assault ahead.

The House recently passed a bill allowing health insurance providers to deny coverage to people for having pre-existing "conditions" including having been a victim of rape. Thanks to "Trumpcare" any person who has suffered from being a victim of this horrendous crime can be denied health care and have no way to pay for check-ups, medication, or even life-saving procedures. Seems legit.

Here's why I'm thanking Trump: I understand that the president doesn't always make the rules. I understand that congress has passed this law and not Trump. However, Trump's presence and blatant lack of respect for women, lgbt+ persons, and minorities, or their bodily autonomy has only perpetuated rape culture and the underlying or subconscious belief of many people that rape is the victim's fault.

We all remember when video of Trump saying "Grab her by the pussy!" surfaced. Some people have tried arguing his case by saying "He wouldn't have said that if he knew somebody was filming!" or "He was younger then!", and maybe they're right. After all, he was only a 58-year-old man! He's grown up now and he knows better! He only talks about sexually assaulting women when he knows the public won't hear him! How respectful of him.

Donald Trump has done a lot of despicable things from not paying the people he hires, to insulting people's appearance or character simply because he does not like them, but his perpetuation of rape culture is one of the most harmful things he's done so far. Rape is not the victim's fault. Nobody asked to be raped and nobody asked to have side effects like depression, anxiety, PTSD, STDs, etc. from being raped. Rape is not a condition that someone contracts and we should never deny people their basic human rights for any reason, especially being a victim of sexual assault.

So, thank you, Donald Trump. Thank you for being the vehicle through which people act upon their sexist and racist thoughts. Thank you for making rape seem like a joke and making the victim seem like the bad guy for having been raped. Thank you for making victim's lives harder.

If you or a friend has been a victim of sexual assault, please reach out to RAINN, the national sexual assault hotline. Call 800-656-HOPE.