Trump Is Not Simply America’s Problem, He’s The World’s Problem

I was so ready to talk about how proud I was that, finally, there has been a woman president. But there isn’t. And more than just that, there isn’t even a good man as president in 2016.

I woke up this morning at 4 am and, although I don’t live in America, I was terrified of these results. As a woman, as an individual with a disability, but most importantly, as a human being. I sat down and cried today. For my friends and people I love who are gay, the strong women in my life, the people in my life who are not cisgendered or Caucasian. I cried for the middle and lower class Americans, I cried for every person that is about to be affected, no, already has been affected, by this vote, this campaign, this hate. And in my opinion, every person has been affected.

I walked into my lecture today to a student celebrating Trump’s win. The certainty I felt that this was going to have an effect on Canada was sinking in and proving to be true. With someone like Trump in power, this student felt confident to talk about how Trump deserved this; that Hillary Clinton is nothing more than her emails, nothing more than a person who got stomped on in every way by Trump and his team. Much to my disbelief, he totally and completely closed his eyes to all of the misogynistic remarks, xenophobic tendencies, and so much more from Trump, just to praise the Republican party, and pretty much laugh in the faces of everyone who is in such pain right now. And I expect to see quite a few more. In society, we have tried for years to make it socially unacceptable to be discriminatory against groups, disrespectful to groups, and to make communities feel unsafe. This election has set us back years.

It is now not only viewed as acceptable to treat people in these ways, to think about people in these ways, it is viewed as powerful. Someone like that won. Someone like that has the utmost power in one power countries in this world.

There is no way to write about Trump winning this election that will ever do it justice. It will never cover the pain, shock, injustice that it has caused.

As I’ve seen everywhere, even if Trump had lost, it would not be a win. Everywhere, people are coming out of the woodwork believing that sexism, racism, transphobia, xenophobia and homophobia are okay. Accepted. That they all have a right to say what they want to say, and to know that people agree with them.

Nonetheless, it is even more of a loss, for so many, to see this man stand in such a position. Children are being taught that being a greedy, disrespectful person, gets you places in life. T hey are being taught that this is how you win. Girls are being taught that a man will always win out, even if he has no experience, even if they work harder. Boys are being taught that it is okay to disrespect their mothers, their sisters, their girlfriends, women they pass on the street, women they may never meet or know. Non- straight and non-cis individuals are being taught that no matter what rights have been earned through their fighting, the winning message is always; you are not valid. Immigrants who have made America what is it, immigrants who have made other countries what they are, are being told; Your work does not matter. You are not one of us. This cannot be the case.

This man is in power. A man who has bragged about sexual assault, a man who has disrespected and insulted; females, blacks, disabled, Hispanics, Latinos, Chinese, any group you could think of. Who has insulted the president elected before him.

This is not only America’s problem. This is the world’s problem.

Trump winning will affect everything. Things will get worse before they get better, but please fight. Make your voice heard. Please know that his views are not everyone’s views. Please know that I am here to support anyone who needs it, and regardless of these results, so are so many others. Good will win out someday. But we must make it happen.