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In President-Elect Donald Trump’s first interview since being elected, he said to the country: “don’t be afraid.”
It’s important to note that Trump said this not ten minutes after explaining that his pro-choice agenda would fill the Supreme Court seats and cause women to flee to other states in order to get contraception, appropriate health care and legal abortions. He said this after confirming that yes, indeed, he wants to build a wall between the United States and Mexico but he’ll accept “some fencing” in certain areas.
“I’m going to bring this country together again,” Trump says but what he means is – he’s taking the country back to its roots – its racist, homophobic, xenophobic, sexist roots. The now infamous photograph of Trump standing in a golden elevator with UKIP Leader Nigel Farage speaks volumes – not just for the obvious class divide but the hypocrite that Trump is.
His plans of a wall and abortion rights are just two examples of a Republican run White House, led by a man who sits comfortably in his seat, in Trump Tower, telling people to never fear. If this weren’t already Orwellian enough, social media (the big brother eye) played such a huge part of this presidential campaign – it is now flooded with fear.
Trump protesters litter the streets. Trump supporters harass and attack Latinos, Muslims, Mexicans, gay men and women, African Americans – those made to feel like the minority, unwanted and not part of this “great America” that Trump will create. The American people are divided from a bitter and ugly campaign between two opposite people, representing the divides. Those left with a fragile and broken Democratic Party are fearful.
In his first interview as President Elect, Trump sat with his four older children and wife, Melania. When asked about the fear, Donald Trump Jr called it “totally unfounded”. Trump then went on to blame the press for causing the fear, for “spreading lies” that ignited the fear.
The thing is: people are afraid, Mr Trump. Of you. Of your homophobic Vice President. Of your rhetoric, of your attitude, of your morals. They’re terrified that making America great again means war, means breaking up families, and imprisoning innocent people. They’re terrified and disgusted that a man who speaks of women as pigs sits in the highest and, by some people, most respected position in all of America. How can the young women of America respect their President, their government and the order they demand when the very person leading them is a hypocrite, a man who not just hides from scandal but openly ignores it, openly lies?
Trump is a storyteller. His story is he’s done nothing wrong, he’s a good guy and he’s had a hard time in the press, he’s built himself from nothing, he’s someone to be admired. And now he sits in the White House where he can tell people to not be afraid. He’s going to make his country great again with the help of white supremacists and Wall Street lobbyists.
There’s one thing I agree with Trump about and that is to not be afraid. Because to give fear to a brute like Trump is to give him even more power. To fear is to shrink. Even as America – and the country – is deflated from the ugly decisions made, has broken by a great divide, it illuminates that while Trump sits at the President’s desk, and the protesters march the streets, the people’s voices, however small or quiet, can never be unheard.
About Thomas Stewart
Thomas Stewart's fiction, essays and poems have been featured in The Cadaverine, Ink, Sweat and Tears, The Stockholm Review, Agenda Broadsheet, Flight Journal, The Fat Damsel, Lies, Dreaming, Anomaly, among others. His debut poetry pamphlet, 'Creation' is forthcoming by Red Squirrel Press. He has an MA in Writing from Warwick and a BA in English from South Wales. He enjoys folk music and is afraid of the dark. He can be found on Twitter at ThomasStewart08.
