I remember a few months ago, scrolling through my Facebook, I saw a post that said: “Write a horror story in only three words.” Curious, I checked the comments. The top comment, with nearly 53,000 likes, was “Welcome, President Trump.” I scoffed and kept scrolling.
The morning of November 9, 2016 that horror story stopped being a joke on the top of a Facebook post, and it became a reality that I honestly haven’t comprehended yet. I didn’t comprehend it when he won state after state, when Hillary Clinton conceded, when Donald Trump gave his victory speech. I don’t think I will ever comprehend it.
This is a man who has multiple sexual assault claims against him, who openly said he’d date his daughter were it not incest, who said he’d do everything to undo what Barack Obama had done in the last eight years. Donald Trump is the personification of male privilege. Had any other candidate have even one of the multiple scandals surrounding Trump, their political careers would have been over immediately. Yet, with Trump’s campaign, they came in waves, each one somehow managing to outdo the other, but it almost seemed to add to his support.
I am just going to put this out there right now: I believe Donald Trump is one of the worst people imaginable to take on the role as the 45th President of the United States. His character is fundamentally corrupt, and I do not believe he possesses the competence or the emotional maturity to be as powerful as his position as the president of the United States will make him. Trump being elected as president has made me lose faith in a country that claims to be founded on values of freedom and equality.
I’m a 17-year-old girl, proud of my Muslim and Pakistani heritage, and I hope to secure a spot at an American university next year. How am I supposed to feel safe when the country is being run by a man who doesn’t want me there? How are people of colour supposed to feel safe? How are Hispanics, Muslims, LGBTQ, people who are disabled, people who found security in Obamacare, women, anyone who is not like him supposed to feel safe anymore?
I truly think that millions of people didn’t vote for Trump because of Trump himself. They voted for a change from closed-off politicians, the carefully woven conspiracy that described American politicians as corrupt puppets. Trump maneuvered this anger with hyperbolic statements and a paradox of self-awareness and none at the same time. Within these candid, unapologetic statements, people saw a true glimmer for change. Trump’s slogan became a mantra for this silent majority, plastered across mugs, t-shirts and caps. His supporters weren’t upset with him for mocking a disabled reporter, for calling a ban on Muslim immigration, and for enforcing plans to build a wall along the border of Mexico. They weren’t disgusted by the tapes from 2005 that showed him nonchalantly discussing sexual assault, or the stories of dozens of women who came forward afterwards confirming what they video didn’t.
Living in the UK, we saw this in June, when the British referendum ruled to leave the European Union. We saw a divide in the country; it brought to surface the dysfunctional realities of our society that ran deeper than we could see. And we’re seeing it in the United States now, five months later.
What is to be done now? I’ve dreamed of idealistic fairy tales of Trump and Pence’s sudden resignation, of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer turning around and yelling “surprise!”, of the members of the electoral college going rouge in a fiery-eyed revolution in December. But that’s all that these are — dreams. What we need to do is grit our teeth, accept it, and not back down.
We cannot applaud Donald Trump, congratulate Donald Trump or even support Donald Trump yet. We will not let him promote his xenophobia, racism, misogyny or bullying. This is a time to come together, and stronger. We must show more love and acceptance to each other than we ever have before. With Trump’s power come not just responsibility, but intense scrutiny from here onward. Let’s see if he fulfils his promise to heal the divides. Otherwise, he’ll see himself becoming the biggest dividing force the United States, the oldest democracy in the world, has ever seen.
The writer is a student living in Cambridge, UK. She can be reached at [email protected], and on Twitter at AnnushehQureshi