So, as the entire world probably knows, Donald Trump is the United States’ president-elect. I guess I was wrong in my October 25 article titled “Only Two Weeks Until Donald Trump Becomes Irrelevant Again!“… yikes. It seems he’s now relevant as ever, but for all the wrong reasons. I shouldn’t have to explain how a Trump presidency will devastate millions of Americans ranging from LGBT+ to racial minorities to immigrants. But now some are speculating that Trump’s hateful rhetoric was all a hoax to get elected?
I came across a video on Twitter of Donald Trump speaking his opinion on various issues. And he seems entirely progressive.
Yeah he played y’all pic.twitter.com/3SMoDAjoqv
— Bianca Mariah (@biancaamariah) November 11, 2016
From LGBT bathroom rights to abortion, it seems like Trump could have easily run on as a Democrat if these are truly his beliefs. So was his hateful, misogynistic, and racist campaign merely a strategy to scam white America and become president-elect?
Well, this could simply be a tactic to try and “normalize” Trump, especially in the wake of widespread protests against his election. But if it isn’t, did Trump distort his beliefs to tap into, expose, and utilize America’s ugly side? Just the other day, USA Today published a story speculating that Trump may be backing down on his seemingly-adamant plan to repeal Obamacare. Is he slowly-but-surely turning himself back into a minimally ethical person? Is he not going to ruin the country as much as he talked about?
I personally believe this is all speculation and simply an effort to humanize Trump and make him seem more likable. And even if he does become a little more progressive than he is now, his former actions and atrocities are definitely not excused. After all, how can the Trump Tapes and the time he mocked a reporter with a disability be excused? They can’t. More over, Trump selected literal bigot Mike Pence as his VP, who supported LGBT conversion therapy. Even if Trump backs down on former stances, he still can’t be excused for being an awful.
Whether or not Trump actually believes in any of the hateful things he did is unknown, and only time will tell. But the truly disturbing part of all of this is that nearly half of the United States agrees with and condones all of his inhumane policies and disgusting actions. Nearly half of America (predominantly white, straight America) condones xenophobic and sexist behavior. That is the most disheartening part of this election, especially considering that Trump probably won’t be able to pass any of his unconstitutional plans anyways.
For now, though, we are not required to accept Trump as president. We are not obligated to be content with a president-elect fueled by hate. Let the protests continue.
