It’s hard to imagine what could possibly come out of having a racist, Islamophobic and egocentric man as the leader of an entire country. However, as of Jan. 20, 2017, the citizens of the United States no longer have to imagine, for it has become a cold, harsh reality. In just 71 days in office, President Donald Trump has managed to become the center of a federal court case for violating the Constitution, an enemy of the intelligence community, and the U.S. president with the lowest approval rating in the past 60 years.
The Trump administration has brought neither greatness nor jobs back to America, as promised, but rather has intensified concerns about the future of our nation.
Throughout his campaign, Trump has been known for his hatred and ill will toward minority groups. After just seven days in office, he issued a “travel ban” that targeted seven predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa. The administration defended the order and warned that the U.S. must be proactive in preempting and preventing any terrorist attacks. However, this claim is largely unfounded since most deadly terrorist attacks are committed by American-born citizens, not Muslim immigrants.
The New America Organization recently reported that none of the fatal terrorist attacks post-9/11 were committed by immigrants from the seven countries listed in Trump’s travel ban. Thus, the executive order is an outright attack on millions of innocent Muslim travelers. This despicable action normalizes the idea of marginalizing an entire group of people based on false pretenses. Trump irrationally acted on baseless accusations and sought to materialize his fear and hatred into actual federal law.
If Trump’s blatant violation of the Constitution alone isn’t alarming enough, intelligence officials are purposely withholding and denying him access to national security data. Security councils are so outraged with his treatment of intelligence that even staffers, like former head of the CIA, James Woolsey, have quit his transition team and subsequently abandoned their careers in the intelligence community.
Trump’s denial of national security data is due to suspected ties to Russian espionage. Many are concerned that Trump may leak critical information to Russian intelligence spies. On numerous occasions, Trump has publicly defended and vocalized his respect for authoritarian Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is troubling that he idolizes a leader that subjects his people to propaganda, state controlled media, and even a ban on homosexuality. This raises questions as to what is Trump trying to emulate from Putin’s oppressive presidency.
Furthermore, his criticisms and judgments, made public by his personal Twitter account, are extremely unprofessional. His unfiltered, hasty remarks are deplorable for someone in the high office of president, and it is unbefitting of any other politician who would one day hope to be in office. It is both puzzling and contradictory that someone who can preach so much about protecting the U.S. then proceeds to verbally attack nearly every minority group within its borders.
For the citizens who look forward to Trump and his administration’s goal to “Make America Great Again,” perhaps a reevaluation of what constitutes “great” is in order. If it’s racism, exclusion, the violation of human rights and unprofessionalism, then the White House is definitely on the right path. Here’s to Trump’s America.
