A review: Why President Trump is bad for everyone, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation
By: Rai Kanagawa
Tags: Trump Administration, Election 2020, Vote

Disclaimer: This is by no means a comprehensive list. I, like many others, have been outraged over the past week by the inexcusable actions of President Trump. While his behavior is appalling, the excuses Trump supporters will use to twist his impulsive, alarming conduct into reasonable, sensible action is just as astounding, if not more-so. Snippets of support I have found floating around the twitter-sphere (paraphrased for clarity) include: 1. the media and/or democrats want to divide people; 2. President Trump is draining the swamp ; and (my personal favorite) 3. Americans should focus on President Trump’s actions, not his words. In this review, I want to address Argument 3. For supporters that demand we look at Trump’s actions to convince ourselves that his pro-military, anti-women, anti-minority, and ultimately pro-authoritarian rhetoric are ostensible demonstrations, its unfortunate that his bizarre twitter statements are typically as reprehensible as his actions. Here is a non-exhaustive list of action-based examples President Trump has taken targeting specific groups, matched with the appropriate tweet to clarify why President Trump’s actions do not pardon his words.

Black Americans

The Tweet: “I’ve [President Trump][have] done more for Black Americans, in fact, than any President in U.S. history, with the possible exception of another Republican President, the late, great, Abram Lincoln…” Donald J. Trump, June 3, 2020, 6:07 AM EST.

Historically, this statement is inaccurate. Abraham Lincoln was technically a Democrat by modern day standards. In 1860, Republicans were staunch believers in big government, whereas in modern times the (traditional) republican party typically votes in favor of curbing government oversight and power. Therefore, when historians say “Lincoln was a Republican”, they are referring to the original Republican party that voted overwhelming for the expansion of the federal government to oversee social justice reform. The Democratic and Republican parties began reversing their stances on big government in 1936.

History aside, this tweet is laughable. The comparison is embarassing: Abraham Lincoln risked destroying America to abolish slavery, President Trump pinned a self-serving tweet on his twitter-feed to show solidarity to the black community. In terms of actionable legislation President Trump has tried to pass to “benefit” the black community: 1) In March of 2018, he passed Opportunity Zones, a poorly constructed initiative meant to aid economic development in low-income neighborhoods that, in actuality, hurt inner city communities ; 2) decreased unemployment in the black community, although it is unclear if specific legislation passed by the Trump administration aided in this years-long downward trend; 3) reformed the Food Stamps program, a move which would disproportionately burden black Americans; and 4) permanent funding for historically black universities and colleges (this was positive and had bipartisan support).

Of the 4 examples provided, only one policy directly benefits the black community. Additionally, his silence during times when action was needed, especially during the COVDI-19 pandemic, speaks volumes. He did not make a statement when Alex Azar, the Secretary of Health for the US, effectively blamed the black community (and other minorities) for disproportionately high COVID-19 comordities as the primary reason for America’s high COVID-19 lethality figure. President Trump also did not comment or propose legislation that would provide financial relief for black communities affected by soaring unemployment rates during the pandemic. Finally, President Trump did not mention the need for police reform during the protests demanding justice for George Floyd, and instead threatened military intervention to dominate protestors.

White Americans Farmers

Tweet: “Farmers are starting to do great again, after 15 years of a downward spiral. The 16 Billion Dollar China ‘replacement’ money didn’t exactly hurt!” Donald J. Trump, July 23, 2019, 4:54 AM EST.

White Americans account for 95.8% of workers in the farming industry. The tariff war President Trump started with China has severely impacted American farmers (for anyone that needs an in-depth explanation on tariff’s and what a tariff war is, I highly recommend this article). In a nutshell, a tariff war starts when America taxes the imports of another country (in this case, China), causing that country to then retaliate by taxing American imports. President Trump’s imposed tariffs on $250 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports. In response, China, a large consumer of cash crops like soybean and corn, imposed retaliatory tariffs on American agriculture. Decline in agricultural exports, coupled with severe weather, has decimated farms, causing an increase in bankruptcy and suicide. Trump has falsely claimed that $16 billion dollars worth of farm aid was generated by tariffs imposed on Chinese goods, but experts agree that American consumers are paying for the tariffs, not China. Additionally, the distributed agricultural aid has been insufficient to prevent farm failure from trade war losses, leaving farmers with burdened with debt- victims in President Trump’s poorly thought-out out tariff war.

LGBTQ+ individuals

Tweet: “As we celbrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation.” Donald J. Trump, May 31, 2019, 12:12 PM EST.

I had high hopes for President Trump on LGBTQ+ rights. During his campaign, he supported transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner in using the women’s restroom at the Trump Tower. At the time, Republicans were actively promoting baseless accusations that encouraging transgender individuals to use the bathroom associated with their gender, rather than birth sex, would increase bathroom assaults as a result. Standing apart from the Republican party, I foolishly believed that Trump would be the black sheep of the Republican party, standing strong as an LGTB ally if elected. I was wrong. While Buzzfeed has compiled an exhaustive list ranging from 2016 to 2018 that detail the damage to LGBT rights his administration caused, I wanted to highlight a few key pieces of legislation President Trump passed: 1) legalizing LGBTQ+ discrimination by arguing employers should be able to fire employees for being transgender or gay, 2) banning transgender service-members in the military, and 3) removing Obama-era discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I cannot find an example of President Trump acting on behalf of LGBT+ individuals.

Women

Tweet: “Beautiful weather all over our great country, a perfect day for all Women to March…[Lowest] female unemployment in 18 years!” Donald J. Trump, Jan 20, 2018, 11:51 AM.

In 2005, President Trump was recorded on tape claiming to “grab [women] by the p**sy”. Though a decades long record of vulgar, sexist remarks should convince Americans that President Trump does not actually respect women, here are a few actions President Trump has used as evidence he does actually value women (and to excuse past behaviors): 1) indirect, but President Trump claims economic growth policies have benefitted women (this statement is largely considered untrue. Other factors, such as industry standard adjustments and population growth are considered more direct causes of increased women in the workforce) and 2) he employs more women in senior roles than the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administration (this is true). Legislative action that directly counters his pro-women narrative, however, includes reshaping Obama-era campus sexual assault legislation to favor the accused and reduce legal liabilities for the school.

We also should not forget that 17 women have accused President Trump of sexual misconduct and assult.

This list is obviously non-comprehensive. It does not touch on the “muslim ban”, the unjust and horrifying treatment of migrants seeking asylum while crossing the border, or the constant, authoritative rhetoric highlighted on President Trump’s twitter as he tries to systematically unravel American democracy. These specific instances were intended to highlight the juxtaposition between President Trump’s words and actions, proving that, in a time where supporters argue his actions speak louder than words, often his actions are worse. As American’s, we can no longer delude ourselves into believing he is good for this country. We cannot allow ourselves to become apathetic to the horrifying actions that come from this administration or to normalize his infantile behavior. We must hold him accountable for his actions and vote him out.