Despair.
That’s the feeling I woke up with on November 6. I woke up with a pit in my stomach, and an overwhelming sense of dread for what is to come over the next four years in this country.
I, to this day, still cannot seem to grasp why the American electorate decided to give this man another chance. President-Elect Donald Trump is an adjudicated rapist, 34-time convicted felon, an insurrectionist and a good ole’ fashioned conman, and is in line, once again, for the most powerful position in the world.
The man that nearly 75 million people elected to, supposedly, fix the economy has killed almost every business he has ever touched, each with his name on it. Six businesses of Mr. Trump’s declared bankruptcy between 1991 and 2009. Trump Taj Mahal in 1991, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in 1992, Trump Plaza in 1992, Trump Castle Hotel and Casino in 1992, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts in 2004 and Trump Entertainment Resorts in 2009.
Oh, is that fiscal ineptitude not enough for you? I’ve got more where that came from.
Mr. Trump’s 1983 United States Football League (USFL) team the New Jersey Generals lasted just three seasons on its own before merging with the USFL franchise in Houston. The league folded soon after that.
Still not enough?
How about the Tour de Trump? That was a failed attempt to start an American cycling race like the Tour de France.
Need more?
The former president failed to purchase the Buffalo Bills in 2014.
I’ve got one more for you.
How about the Trump board game? You don’t see those floating around the shelves of Barnes and Nobles or Target anymore.
All these failed business ventures don’t even begin to describe the catastrophic policies he endorsed throughout his campaign, some of which will undo decades of progress towards equality and equal opportunity.
The biggest economic policy Mr. Trump ran on was imposing tariffs on imported goods to stimulate the economy by creating factory jobs and lowering food prices all while shrinking the federal deficit.
These tariffs will have the opposite effect across the board. According to Google Trends, Google searches for the word “tariffs” skyrocketed in the days following the election, and with it, came pieces from the media about how damaging these tariffs could be to the United States economy.
The American public just doesn’t know how tariffs work. So, here’s the crash course.
A tariff is a tax placed on an imported good. However, despite popular belief (as peddled by the Trump campaign), it is not the foreign country that pays the tax. It is the company importing the good that has to pay the tariff. The increase in cost of importing the good and production is passed down a vast majority of the time through price increases to the consumer.
Does that sound like what Mr. Trump promised? Does that sound like lower prices for the average American?
In June, a staggering 16 Nobel prize winning economists signed a letter saying that Trump’s economic plan, including his disastrous tariffs, would “reignite” inflation. Inflation that, despite what MAGA Republicans will try and tell you, has shrank incredibly under President Joe Biden, starting at 7% at the beginning of his administration (courtesy of the economy left to him by President Trump) to 2.4% in September. President Biden has spent four years undoing the damage the Trump regime did to the economy, and now Trump is going to get to do it all again.
His social policies could prove even more catastrophic.
The President-Elect said multiple times on the campaign trail that he wants to disband the Department of Education. The very same Department of Education that has made Individual Education Plans possible, where 504 plans to help children with disabilities get their education were developed; the very same Department of Education that has made college a possibility to some of you reading this through financial aid programs such as FAFSA and Pell Grants. He wants to make access to education even harder while making post-secondary education almost exclusive to the upper-class.
Trump appointed judges are also responsible for repealing Roe v. Wade, a fact that the President-Elect has not been shy about either. While Trump hasn’t come out in favor of an outright abortion ban, many red states are working towards it. In Florida, a ballot measure that would have enshrined the right to reproductive healthcare (specifically abortions) into the state constitution failed despite receiving 57% of the vote due to the 60% rule (a rule that, ironically, was passed on a ballot measure with 58% of the vote).
This has left many women afraid for their futures. What if they’re in need of life saving care, but cannot get it? What if the pregnancy isn’t viable, but hospital lawyers won’t green light an abortion procedure because the hospital runs the risk of being sued or the doctor refuses because they fear they could be jailed for performing the procedure?
OB-GYN doctors are fleeing red states in droves. States with strict abortion rules such as Idaho have seen a significant decrease in women’s healthcare providers. Since a law criminalizing abortion was passed in the state last year, the number of practicing OB-GYN doctors has dropped 22%, leaving women, specifically in rural regions, without a nearby healthcare provider.
And that’s not just for abortions. These women need other reproductive healthcare like ultrasounds, hysteroscopies and treatment for endometriosis. These patients are forced to travel long distances, sometimes even across state lines, to seek care that Illinoisans have the privilege of traveling just down the road for.
Let’s not sit here and act like abortion is wildly unpopular. It’s quite the opposite. The American people showed in this election that they want the women of this country to have control over their own bodies.
States that Trump won (Arizona, Nevada, Montana; Missouri) voted in favor of the right to abortions on ballot measures this election cycle. Democratic strongholds Colorado, Maryland and New York joined them in passing similar referendums.
Looking at that, it's hard not to ask yourself, “Did these people vote against their own interests?”
The short answer: yes.
The long answer:
The state of Missouri passed three ballot measures this cycle, two of which contain major pieces of policy championed by the democratic party: increasing the minimum wage, and access to abortion. The minimum wage in the state of Missouri was increased to $15 per hour courtesy of a 58-42 victory. The abortion measure passed with 52% of the vote.
Despite voting for these democratic party policies, the people of Missouri, in all their wisdom, voted for Mr. Trump with 58.5% of the vote. Trump won the state by over 600,000 votes.
Make it make sense.
Why do the people of this country continue to vote against their own interests? Why do the American people favor Democratic policy, but elect an insurrectionist and womanizer?
To me it’s clear: fear. The Trump campaign fear mongered its way to victory. Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic party talked of hope. They talked of a fresh start for the country. But the voters didn’t respond to that.
They responded to the baseless claims of a stolen election. They responded to being told that illegal immigrants are coming for their jobs and committing horrible rapes and murders at high rates (all of which is untrue), and that “Sleepy Joe Biden” has done nothing but nap in the Oval office for four years, despite President-Elect Trump playing an estimated 261 rounds of golf during his 1461 day presidency (17.86% of his days in power). That figure is an estimation from the Washington Post because the Trump camp often refused to tell the media when he was golfing.
The former president told his followers that this would be the end of the America if they did not vote for him. Vice-President Harris would destroy the country if put into power.
The American people responded to messages of sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia; among others, instead of messages of hope.
That’s more telling than anything else.
So, pat yourself on the back America. You did it. You, through a free and fair election (though I doubt it would have been labeled that had it not gone your way), elected an adjudicated rapist, 34-time convicted felon, an insurrectionist and a failed businessman to lead this country at what is a crucial point in the fight for women’s rights, the fight against climate change and continued conflicts in Europe, Africa and the Middle-East.
You got your guy, America. Now you reap what you sowed, whatever that may be.
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