1/20/2017
Dear Daughters,
I have been struggling how I am going to explain to you when you are older, my feelings about Donald Trump becoming president. I am so conflicted as an American because I respect the office; I respect the government; and I respect my leaders; yet I do not respect Donald Trump, even though now he is my president.
Our country is so divided right now and it was a brutal election campaign with both sides slinging mud at the other side. Most Americans took a stance and the name calling between Americans, friends, and families became muddier than the politicians. My own brother, your uncle, unfriended me on Facebook because he didn't like my political views. He was/is a strong Trump supporter and took every opportunity he could to support Trump's narcissistic views. It was hard to even participate in social media because people took every chance they could to broadcast their political views and some would harshly demoralize others that didn't share their exact views it only perpetuated the divide amongst friends/family.
I did not vote for Trump. I don't even know how to express all the reason why I didn't. Many will claim that I am complaining that Hilary Clinton didn't win; if I question Trump, I am told to "get over it." I didn't vote for her either.
I believe the leader of America should be in a class of their own. They should be above the fray and set a positive example for all Americans to follow; yet Trump continues to behave like a junior high student. He is not a president to just the rich or white Christians, he is a president to ALL American despite their race or religious affiliations. I am not naïve that previous presidents have let the power go to their heads and have behaved badly. Lucky for them, they were a president before the age of the internet where someone's behavior can be shared instantaneously. If I knew about them or if they acted like Trump did, I wouldn't have voted for them either.
He has been caught on tape claiming that he can grab any woman's private areas because of who he is. He can been caught on video mocking a disabled reporter because he didn't like what the reporter was saying. This was ALL BEFORE he became president. A famous actress used her podium moment to preach that we need to love one another and not let bullies win. Trump took to Twitter the next morning and claimed that she was an overacted actress and is just bitter that Hilary didn't win. Who does that?? There are teachers at my school who don't like our principal. If my principal acted the way Trump did and treated the staff members that didn't like him, like Trump did, my principal would have ZERO respect from his staff. Trump's behavior doesn't inspire togetherness, it inspires hate and disrespect.
He wants to build a wall so that illegal immigrants “can't get in”. He wants all Muslims to "register". It scares me because what he says, and what he wants to do sounds very similar to what Hitler said during WW2… and look what happened when he became leader. There was a time in the 1940s that Americans were so scared of the Japanese that they made every American Japanese register and move to an internment camp. It took American 40 years to apologize for that. We knew it was wrong, yet that is the direction our current president wants to take America.
He is the textbook definition of a narcissist and despite that, I don't want him to fail. I want him to "Make America Great Again," now that he is president. But just because I respect the office he holds, doesn't mean that I won't support the causes that I believe in.
The day after Trump was inaugurated there was a women's march. Women and men from all around the world met in their cities to march and marched for many reasons. Most marched as a protest to Trump becoming president in response to the hateful comments made during the election, , some were protesting for immigration rights, some for LGBT rights, and some just to support the women in their lives. They predicted maybe 100,000 people would protest, and in the end about 2.5 million people worldwide peacefully marched. Your grandma made the pink cat hats symbolizing this movement and you wore them on that day. You were too young to go and actually protest but had you been old enough, we would have been there.
Most claim that it was beyond moving to be there marching . It is now the largest worldwide protest in US history and I wish we could have been a part of it. I am honored to know many women and men who were there marching and were apart of making history!
People cried and were so depressed the day before when Trump was sworn in; I didn't cry, I wasn't depressed but I would never criticize those that were. The next day at the march they all felt powerful and hopeful that they were surrounded by such likeminded people...2.5 million likeminded people. That says something. Trump of course took to Twitter and responded with the following:
"Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views" (Trump).
"Don't always agree"???? He doesn't agree that women's rights should be heard and protected? He doesn't agree that our country should work to make sure women have rights worldwide because if he actually took the time to listen to the people, that is what he would have heard them protesting for.
He then went on to Tweet: "Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly."
WHAT???? Those people DID VOTE! For the record, Trump didn't win the popular vote. He lost the popular vote by about 2 million people, but because of our Electoral College system, he won the Presidency. Why would he assume that those people marching hadn't voted??? Why didn't he watch the march and think, hmmm....women want to be heard, as their president, I should listen?? Instead he basically dismissed all the people marching as insignificant.
I am scared for the next four years (maybe up to 8 years); You are both too young to know what is going on right now, you will be growing up in a country that is shaped by things that happen in the next 4-8 years and I want you both to know that I will do everything in my power to make sure your rights are protected; I will write my congressmen; I will speak for truth and justice; I will participate in marches; I will not send hateful "tweets"; I will not make fun of my leaders; I will not waste my time engaging in behavior that our president thinks is now appropriate when you disagree with someone.
I am going to continue to pray that God watches over us and that we are in his hands. I do know that Love Trumps Hate so all I can do is live by example of the world I want you to grow up in. I love you both!
