Life After Trump
On New Years Eve 2016, Don Lemon from CNN was drunk. I didn’t drink, but I lived through the vision of Don Lemon.
He drunk too much as a symbolism of what we had to look forward to in 2017 – a long year of saying “I can’t believe that Trump is president.” As depressing as Nov. 9, 2016 was, January 20, 2017 was even sadder because everything became real; a little too real. On January 21, 2017, we had our first Trump presidency lie – the crowd size was bigger than what we saw because the people hadn’t arrived yet. We visually saw Trump wave to no one as he walked to the White House, and yet on January 21, 2017, we were told that there were people standing there and/or waiting to get there. On January 22, we learned a new word that is now apart of our lexicon – alternative truth.
2016 was a year of massive exhaustion of daily monitoring Trump’s twitter and the talk of policies. So, New Years 2017 rolls around, and Don Lemon is sober (I don’t know why), we are supposed to say “Happy New Year.” For what? Why am I saying Happy New Year when 2018 is going to be a full year of ridiculous behavior? One day is just as equally bad as the other day. Donald Trump’s presidency is a case of how much can he and his friends not mess up today. And somehow, we are supposed to forget about how our lives are changing before our eyes because it is a new year?
What do I expect from 2018? It will be more screaming at the television. I will be inundated with more lies from the Trump White House and his supporters. I will continuously hear racist and feminist rhetoric. I will be assaulted with hateful rhetoric toward everyone. I will continue to teach college students how to survive in the age of Trump. I will be fighting on a daily basis with my pen and my mouth to combat the nonsense we see on a daily basis from the Trump White House and the policies that come out of Congress. I will be continuously researching and making it a life’s mission to inform others of the level of toxicity we have seen in this administration and the Republican Party.
If there was one glimmer of hope, then I find it one place – We are able to know exactly what and how the Republican Party thinks about the rest of us who are not white, male, and old. As a Black Woman, it was easy for me to say that the Republican Party is a racist party. But when I would discuss policy to prove it, there would be many people who would tell me that I am just being paranoid. Well, explain Donald Trump and all of his many comments have not stopped the Republican Party’s support.
Now that we know for sure that the Republican Party is filled with racists, homophobia, and sexists, in which they do not care about the poor, middle class, and the future of a unified United States of America, then what are we to do? People say fight. Fight what? Are we fighting an idea? Are we fighting people? When Trump is out of office, we still have a Republican Party of racists, homophobia, and sexists. Trump goes away does not eliminate the root of the problem - a 1/3rd of the country agree and support Trump. We cannot eliminate that many people out of the country, so we need to craft a plan on what to do after Trump. We cannot put a band-aid back on what Trump has exposed.
We need to explore this question because it is hard to answer: How do we live in a post Trump world?