I have been struggling to write this past week, specifically because of what has been going on in our country- mass shootings in Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton. All within one week. All driven by hate. It’s all left me with a sick feeling in my stomach. This feeling is a mixture of being heartbroken for the victims, anxious and afraid for future attacks, and feeling powerless to change any of it. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a Trump supporter. I have strong feelings against him and his rhetoric. I have strong feelings against the example he sets as a leader and role model. He lacks integrity and is manipulative and verbally abusive. Quite frankly, he is a loose cannon.
This week, I am trying to write about love but with everything going on I can’t help but ask myself where is the love in our president? Where is the love for our country? A country that is beautifully diverse and has always been a country of immigrants. Trump can’t just have love for certain areas of the country, for people who support him or who look and think like him. No, Trump does not know love or grace or humility. If you work with him and you oppose him, you’re probably getting fired. If you speak out against him and he sees it, just wait for the twitter tongue lashing. Trump throws hate around like it’s the thing to do. Marginalizing immigrants and stereotyping certain groups as criminals. Making racist remarks about women in Congress. Tasteless name calling of well-respected individuals. Tasteless jokes about serious things like the Trail of Tears. Derogatory references to Haiti and African countries. The list could go on. Just so much hate spewing from this man’s mouth and he is the face of our country.
Honestly, this is not about Republicans versus Democrats. I really don’t care what Trump will (or won’t) accomplish in his presidency, not if it’s accomplished on a platform of hate. Do I hold Trump personally responsible for the mass shootings that took place this week? Maybe not. But is he a part of the problem? Absolutely. Because he is setting an example. He is being watched and imitated, whether he likes it or not. Hateful people, racist people, and bigots are looking to Trump. And for years now, Trump has not drawn a hard line against hateful, racist speech. In fact, he has often been the one leading the charge. He has failed to consistently denounce white supremist groups. He has not spoken out against the targets that have been placed on certain minority groups, because in fact he has been the one to put those targets in place.
Just today, Trump spoke out about the mass shootings, condemning “racism, bigotry, and white supremacy” and stating that “these sinister ideologies must be defeated.” This is the strongest stance I’ve seen Trump take against these issues, but is this what he really believes, or what he felt pressured to say? More importantly, is he going to change his own behavior to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem? Is he going to model this for us? What steps is he going to take to defeat such “sinister ideologies?” And is it all too little too late? Has too much damage been done to the moral fabric of our country to prevent further acts of hate and terror? Is it going to get much worse before it gets better? Will we, as a country, usher in another four years of hate in 2020 by voting for this bully of a man? Will we continue to take giant steps backward, undoing all of the progress that was fought for during the civil rights movement? Will we find our way back to the rhetoric of Dr. King and let love and light reign in our hearts and our country once again? Right now, I’m finding it difficult to feel love in this country. I’m finding it difficult to see the light.
As a Christian, I will pray for Trump and his well-being. But more than that, I will pray that the people in this country will see Trump more clearly for who he is. That more people will understand that a vote for Trump is a vote for hate, racism, and divisive rhetoric. Maybe you didn’t see it the first time around. But it’s blindingly clear now who Trump is, what he stands for and who he stands against. Make no mistake, until he shows otherwise, his platform is not one of family values or creating more jobs, it is one of hate and it is not making our country great on any level. It is making our country dangerous and divided. It breaks my heart to see people afraid, harassed, separated from their families, and dying as a result of the climate of this presidency. Enough is enough. Trump has to be responsible for his words and actions. Hitler’s hateful rhetoric was against the Jews. Looking back now, does anyone care if he improved the economy under his rule? We would be crazy to even talk about such a detail amongst the fact that millions of Jews died because of him. He had people to do the dirty work for him, but the hostility started with Hitler. And we do hold him responsible for the Holocaust, even though he didn’t personally kill all of those Jews in all of those concentration camps. And maybe Trump isn’t on the same level as Hitler, but what I do know is that there is no place for hate and hostility in the White House. It is not the vision that our forefathers had when they created our government.
Trump, to me, represents everything that is wrong in this country. And I don’t really know how to change the trajectory of the path he has taken us on. I don’t know what to do but to hold my breath until 2020 and hope that he’s not reelected. I don’t know what to do but to be the polar opposite of Trump. To love others, especially those who are different from me. To be an ally to those who are in groups targeted by Trump. To show grace to those who are lacking knowledge and awareness around basic human decency. To humbly educate others and speak out when I can. I don’t know what to do but continue to teach my students to be kind, decent, moral and ethical individuals, even though their president is none of these things. To be on the right side of history when it matters, when lives are at stake, and when the love is so hard to find.