When Donald Trump took office in January 2017, his administration worked relentlessly to roll back decades of work to ensure human rights protections for many minority groups. If Donald Trump is reelected in 2024, we will see even more dismantling of human and civil rights policies; this is incredibly dangerous and will prevent many Americans from the rights and freedoms they so rightfully deserve and fought valiantly to obtain.
As a short reminder, these are just a few of the policies Donald Trump and his administration endorsed: a Muslim travel ban, three executive orders “to fight crime, gangs, and drugs; restore law and order; and support the dedicated men and women of law enforcement,” removal of Title IX protections for transgender students, refusal of entry and refugee status for citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, called on lawmakers to remove the Affordable Care Act (which would defund Planned Parenthood and end Medicaid), proposed ending the collection of data on LGBTQIA+ individuals with disabilities, created a religious liberty task force at the Department of Justice (a taxpayer-funded effort to allow discrimination against LGBTQ people and others), vetoed a bipartisan resolution that would hold Secretary Betsy DeVos accountable for failing to provide relief to students defrauded by for-profit colleges, and so many more. The entire, extensive list of human and civil rights violations under the Trump administration can be found on The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights website.
Donald Trump is a danger to the American public. He works under racist, homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, Islamophobic, and classist rhetoric; essentially Trump is every -phobic you can be. From queer folks to people of color, to low-income families, to single mothers, to public school students, to people who are not Christian, to people with disabilities, Trump has created policies in the past that would do nothing but cause them pain and adversity.
I am terrified to imagine what legislation and policy will be enacted if Trump is re-elected. His original reign of terror was unimaginable and exceptionally cruel. How can one man divide a nation into hateful bigots and the oppressed? A second presidency would be detrimental to every American citizen, no one left unscathed except for Trump’s wealthy donors. I do not want to live in an America where we are forced to time travel back to a dark period of this country’s history where oppression is the law of the land. All of the freedoms I once took for granted are now under attack by Trump and his rabid supporters. This election is life or death for many Americans, myself included.
In the words of progressive punk band Refused, “It’s not my nation until it’s everyone’s.”
