Levi Todd is a junior English major and writes 'Leave it to Levi' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Levi at lctodd@bsu.edu.
Fifteen months ago, Donald Trump cast his name into the race for the U.S. presidency. He delivered a speech that set a tone for his campaign in which he said, “When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best ... They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.” From the first day of his campaign to its finish, Donald Trump has gained attention by being a demagogue. I know that’s a confusing word, but it’s accurate. It means that rather than attracting followers based on concrete policies or values, Donald Trump established his following by tapping into people’s fear of minority groups in America.
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And nothing changed from day one. He moved on to encouraging violence at his rallies after a Black Lives Matter supporter (peacefully) protested one of his events: “Maybe [the protester] should have been roughed up ... It was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.” He called for a national registry of Muslims in the United States, and is currently planning on implementing this proposal during his presidency. Leaked audio tapes showed that he bragged about being able to grab women inappropriately against their will (most call that sexual assault), which only adds to the scores of sexist things he’s said. I could keep listing the hateful things that have come out of his mouth, but I’ve got a word count that wouldn’t fit it all.
There are a lot of people claiming we should give Donald Trump a chance, including another Daily News columnist. But we tried that for fifteen months, and nothing changed. If there is a dog in my front yard that is tied to a post, and I see him snapping and lunging at a squirrel, I’m not going to assume he’ll stop if I untie him. Donald Trump has been let loose and given a tremendous amount of power, and it’s naive to assume he won’t harm people when he steps into office.
Actually, scratch that — we don’t even have to wait for Trump to enter the Oval Office to see if he’ll shift gears from the campaign trail. He’s made Steve Bannon his chief strategist, a white supremacist who is openly anti-Semitic, transphobic, sexist, racist, etc. (I guess birds of a feather really do fly together). He’s the executive chairman of Breitbart News, the conservative media group that brings you headlines such as “Does feminism make women ugly?” and “[Transgender slur]s whine about hilarious Bruce Jenner billboard." Just Google Steve Bannon and his legacy, and tell me that Trump is going to back down from his campaign promises.
A Donald Trump presidency is going to be dangerous. To people who encourage us to “just wait and see,” or “have a little faith” — we did that. And nothing changed. The reason you see people protesting, signing petitions and denouncing Trump’s leadership is because we want to indicate to him that the majority of the nation (since Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by close to 2 million votes) does not support his discrimination and hatred. If you personally don’t feel endangered by Trump’s presidency, I’m happy for you. It’s a luxury that not everyone has when Trump has made it apparent that some aren’t welcome in his vision of America.
So no, I’m not going to wait to see if Trump changes, and I don’t have any hope that he will. There’s too much at stake to be fooled again.
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