American voters willfully pull apocalyptic lever of self destruction
The United States remains trapped in the stasis of its centuries-long history of bigotry. The very heart and soul of American democracy disintegrated when Donald Trump became the projected winner of the 2024 election: a giant electoral knife was firmly lodged in the back of all minorities and women in the supposed “land of the free.”
On November 5, 2024, 72,833,737 Americans decided that blatant racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, and xenophobia would not affect their presidential ballot. 72,833,737 Americans gave testimony that they do not care about the fate of minorities or women.
This known abuser and misogynist was recently held civilly liable for sexual assault in his case against E. Jean Carrol in 2023 (according to AP news). How could we forget (oh wait, 72, 833, 737 voters did) the infamous “Access Hollywood tape” with its release to the public in 2005, further affirming the vulgar and demeaning nature in which he views women? Additionally, several women came forward to accuse Trump of sexual assault following the release of the tape.
As Trump infects the White House for a second time, men will become more comfortable in their blatant misogyny or sexual abuse as he sets the worst possible example. Sexual assault victims are constantly berated with the question of why they never come forward, and the reason lies within this country’s willingness to elect their abusers. Justice remains vacant for the women that he sexually assaulted, so much so that their abuser has been virtually rewarded.
The young men in this election had record voter turnout as, according to NBC News, “in 2020, President Joe Biden beat Trump by 11 percentage points among young men; this year, Trump beat Kamala Harris by 2 points.” As so many young men voted against the rights of women, generational turnover seems to be turning over in the wrong direction. Young men that voted for Trump: your sisters, daughters, nieces, your mother, they hear you and will be effectively damaged by your actions. Already, across the nation and in the halls of our high school, ignorant men smirk as they boast, ‘your body, my choice.’
The actions of this convicted sexual abuser’s last presidency have already created great peril for women as he appointed a Supreme Court that would eventually overturn Roe V. Wade. This decision not only left abortion rights up to the states, but made contraceptives and birth control more difficult to obtain. This, of course, proves incredibly oxymoronic and demonstrates that the stunting of abortion rights was never truly about ‘preserving the life of the unborn’ but solely about having control over women. As Trump said days before the election, he “will protect women whether they like it or not.”
And that perfectly encompasses how he has always gone through life: with a desire for control arising from the grotesque privilege of wealth and a free pass through the corridors of power. He controls women ‘whether they like it or not,’ because he truly does not care about the fate of the American people, he cares more deeply about his ability to shape moldable minds. The amount of money he has in his pocket matters more to him than the forcefully impregnated 13-year-old child in the South that has to drive several hours to get an abortion, if she is able to get one at all. Trump’s indifference to the rights of women has killed some of them in America, and the people that voted for him in the past and voted for him again have killed women in America. The hatred for the female sex in the United States remains tragically more apparent than one could’ve ever imagined.
Trump’s projected presidency presents not only an almost insurmountable threat to women, but an attack on all minorities. Throughout his last presidency, according to The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, he issued a Muslim travel ban, reworked the interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and he outlawed all transgender people from serving in the military. All of these attacks on minorities were within his first year in the White House.
But, the past is not the present. The future under Donald Trump is rapidly morphing into the most terrifying part of his reelection, specifically, the most damaging piece of Trump's rhetoric, Project 2025, a 900 page document drafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation to reorganize the United States to promote a conservative agenda. Although Trump claims to know nothing of the document, “Six of his former Cabinet secretaries helped write or collaborated…Four individuals Trump nominated as ambassadors were also involved, along with several enforcers of his controversial immigration crackdown. And about 20 pages are credited to his first deputy chief of staff,” according to CNN. Oh yes, his name is mentioned 312 times throughout it.
Not only did his cabinet members write this document, but his rhetoric and policies support its ideas. Project 2025 supports mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, fuel to the fire of Trump’s intense racism. Project 2025 calls for the elimination of the Department of Education and Trump seeks to underfund it and mock its efficacy by appointing Linda McMahon, a woman named along with her husband Vince in a sex trafficking suit, as its head. No matter how much Trump promises the American people that he knows nothing about this 900 page outline for the regression of almost all minority rights, it is entirely impossible that his statement is true. Although dishonesty outlines the very existence of the former president, the fact that Trump continues to lie to the American people and is so dishonest about something so grave to this country’s democracy, remains utterly devastating and terrifying.
Some of the ideas outlined in Project 2025 include: banning books such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Handmaid’s Tale, Fahrenheit 451, The Catcher in the Rye, etc., outlawing gay marriage, the rolling back of trans rights and gender affirming surgeries, and a myriad of other extremely radical and dangerous policies that endanger the lives of Americans beyond measure. Donald Trump has publicly stated multiple times that he is not in favor of gay marriage as well as admitting and promising to roll back any and all gender affirming care for transgender individuals.
This utterly terrifying culmination of horrible and damaging conservative ideologies not only threatens minority rights, but the very foundation of democratic republicanism. The document outlines a “unitary executive theory” meaning the “entire federal bureaucracy, including independent agencies such as the Department of Justice, be placed under direct presidential control” according to the British Broadcasting Corporation. This provides for an extremely authoritarian government that will directly undermine the foundational and constitutional idea of checks and balances. Donald Trump and this absolutely insane abuse of executive privilege will be a parasite sucking the life out of American democracy. But, hey, gas prices may drop so that’ll make the loss of Constitutional integrity worth it.
In reality, gas prices will, in fact, not be lower under Donald Trump’s economic plan. Under the more than once bankrupt idiot’s future administration, he aims to implement tariffs: increased taxes on imported goods. This proposed economic plan “would increase inflation by about 0.8 percentage points next year and impose an additional drag on U.S. manufacturers,” according to National Public Radio. This would mean that the average cost of gas or groceries will actually go up for the average American under his economic plan. Voting for Trump because of ‘economics’ is absolutely ridiculous and arbitrary since his policies will not benefit the lower and middle classes in the slightest. Donald Trump couldn't care less about the average working class family in the United States and he has proved wildly narcissistic and favorable toward billionaires, like his new bestie Elon Musk, and dictators, like his old pal Vladimir Putin. Even if Donald Trump’s economic policies could make the cost of the average product cheaper, is that truly all Americans care about? Is this country really that selfish? 72,833,737 apparently believe so.
Sadly, if Kamala Harris had simply been a man, this tragedy may have been averted. This injustice adds another layer as an overqualified woman lost to a man that has not worked for anything a day in his life, and this loss stems simply from her gender. The unfortunate reality flashes in the dejected eyes of women as two (both Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris) with decades of political experience both lost to a failed businessman with the same experience in government as a toddler, and yet Joe Biden did not. The fate of this country rests upon the stubborn sexism baked into American society and culture. No matter how hard a woman works, she will never be taken seriously in the eyes of United States politics. Women seem to be born with slowed feet and shrunken vocal chords as they have to run and scream to even be considered, and even then the sound they omit and the speed in which they run continuously comes up short. The decision to elect the fascist dictator that bears the name of America's past and future president re-declares a war on women omnipresent within American politics.
The decision to elect Donald Trump was not Republicans winning against Democrats. This election was not red vs. blue, but freedom vs. oppression, democracy vs. dictatorship, this election was love vs. hate. The Republican party ran against the specter of the Other, and that bigotry won. To the delight of 72,833,737 voters.
Although anger and fear will persist in the tired eyes of so many Americans for the next four years, in the hopeful words of Kamala Harris, “it is not the time to throw up our hands, but the time to roll up our sleeves.” And in this complete and utter despair and yearning for a better present, hate America for what it is, but still love it for what it can be. After all, the voice of a woman of color was almost heard.
by Anika Flores
Published December 2nd, 2024
Oshkosh West Index Volume 121 Issue III