Even though I write this article from France, I saw pretty much everything there was to see about Trump’s Inauguration Day. And on this peculiar day, when a man who built his entire campaign on hatred and discrimination was sworn in as president and immediately repealed ObamaCare, a law which helped millions of people have access to affordable health care, I got scared the same thing could happen in my country. I was also scared of how fast I might find out because America is not the only country gettinf new president this year... France has elections coming up in May, and your election might impact our's more than you thought…
When Trump became president elect on November 8th, he proved not only that politicians could get away with blatant xenophobia but also, that it works! Thus, he validated the politicians who have the same views as him and, worse than that, the people who voted for those politicians.
After Trump was elected, the French far-right party, the Front National, had a blast, and they already saw themselves following the same path, and they are probably right, as many polls show they will at least be in the second round of voting. This party platform includes sending back all refugees to their countries, laws to regulate abortions (which have been legal since 1975), and restricting healthcare (most of the health expense were reimbursed since the beginning of the 20th century).
The party gained followers since the beginning of the economic crisis and lot of people already saw it as the most powerful party before Trump’s election. Now that he is the president of the United States, they think their victory is inevitable.
Yet, it is not the only party who impacted by Trump, as demonstrated by the Republican candidate Fillion who kept bringing up he was Catholic, and that it impacts his political views during the debates, something which would have been viewed as shocking 10 years ago. He is, ironically, also the one who strongly suggested Muslims show their religion...
However, since November 8th, I became even more scared for my country's future. If the country who is supposed to represent freedom for all can elected someone like Trump, then my country surely can elected someone from the far-right because this election only validated everyone who think like Trump. Now, every person who blames the crisis on immigrants, or who doesn’t think women can do whatever they want with their bodies, will think they are the majority and what they think and how they act are right, and that is when minorities, whichever they are, are in danger and where we should start to speak up for them and support them in any way we can, and I will do just that while anxiously waiting for France’s elections…
