Maybe this is where I should have
been all along. Here, writing, and on my knees, praying for this country, the
United States of America. Donald Trump has created more fear and anger in his
first week than probably any President in American history, with the possible exception
of Lincoln. (There the comparison ends.)
Here is what has happened in the
first eight days of Trump’s presidency:
· On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered all regulatory powers of
all federal agencies frozen.
· On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered the National Parks Service
to stop using social media after factual, side by side photos were posted of
the crowds for the 2009 and 2017 inaugurations.
· On January 20th, 2017, roughly 230 protestors were arrested
in DC and face unprecedented felony riot charges. Among them were legal
observers, journalists, and medics.
· On January 20th, 2017, a member of the International Workers
of the World was shot in the stomach at an anti-fascist protest in Seattle. He
remains in critical condition.
· On January 21st, 2017, DT brought a group of 40 cheerleaders
to a meeting with the CIA to cheer for him during a speech that consisted
almost entirely of framing himself as the victim of dishonest press.
· On January 21st, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean
Spicer held a press conference largely to attack the press for accurately
reporting the size of attendance at the inaugural festivities, saying that the
inauguration had the largest audience of any in history, “period.”
· On January 22nd, 2017, White House advisor Kellyann Conway
defended Spicer’s lies as “alternative facts” (lies) on national television
news.
· On January 22nd, 2017, DT appeared to blow a kiss to director
James Comey during a meeting with the FBI, and then opened his arms in a
gesture of strange, paternal affection, before hugging him with a pat on the
back.
· On January 23rd, 2017, DT reinstated the global gag order,
which defunds international organizations that even mention abortion as a
medical option.
· On January 23rd, 2017, Spicer said that the US will not
tolerate China’s expansion onto islands in the South China Sea, essentially
threatening war with China.
· On January 23rd, 2017, DT repeated the lie that 3-5 million
people voted “illegally” thus costing him the popular vote.
· On January 23rd, 2017, it was announced that the man who shot
the anti-fascist protester in Seattle was released without charges, despite
turning himself in.
· On January 24th, 2017, Spicer reiterated the lie that 3-5
million people voted “illegally” thus costing DT the popular vote.
· On January 24th, 2017, DT tweeted a picture from his personal
Twitter account of a photo he says depicts the crowd at his inauguration and
will hang in the White House press room. The photo is of the 2009 inauguration
of 44th President Barack Obama, and is curiously dated January 21st, 2017, the
day AFTER the inauguration and the day of the Women’s March, the largest
inauguration related protest in history.
· On January 24th, 2017, the EPA was ordered to stop
communicating with the public through social media or the press and to freeze
all grants and contracts.
· On January 24th, 2017, the USDA was ordered to stop
communicating with the public through social media or the press and to stop
publishing any papers or research. All communication with the press would also
have to be authorized and vetted by the White House.
· On January 24th, 2017, HR7, a bill that would prohibit
federal funding not only to abortion service providers, but to any insurance
coverage, including Medicaid, that provides abortion coverage, went to the
floor of the House for a vote.
· On January 24th, 2017, DT ordered the resumption of
construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, while the North Dakota state
congress considers a bill that would legalize hitting and killing protestors
with cars if they are on roadways.
· On January 24th, 2017, it was discovered that police officers
had used confiscated cell phones to search the emails and messages of the 230
demonstrators now facing felony riot charges for protesting on January 20th,
including lawyers and journalists whose email accounts contain privileged
information of clients and sources."[1]
Today he began the
banning and deportation of people from seven different (Muslim) countries. This
act was overturned as unconstitutional, but that probably will not stop Trump
from doing more damage. His office also did not mention the Jewish people on
Holocaust Remembrance Day (today).[2]
I don’t know what
to think anymore. I know there are people who argue better than me, maybe even
people who know more than me. Maybe they are even right. But all of the events
of the last week seem wrong. This whole week, when reflecting on these events, I’ve
felt nothing but fear and rage. Perhaps then I’m not reflecting, only reacting,
but I’m scared. Every day, yes, every day, there is something new that scares
me. And I don’t know what to do with my fear and rage.
Some say it’s just
the media and we should all unite against that entity. Except the media is not
one entity. It’s liberal and conservative and moderate and radical left and alt
right. It’s television and radio and talk shows and newspapers and, for better
and worse, social media, each arm with its own agenda. Perhaps some are doing
their best to be impartial, but if even half of what is being reported is true,
then things are scary.
Some say we need
to fight for or against the current administration. I hate fighting. I hate
conflict. But I really wonder if we aren’t sliding into fascism and if I might
need to fight. Often, when someone doesn’t like a President, that President is
compared to Hitler. Obama certainly was. Now I think we have a President who
might really be like Hitler. A family member said I shouldn’t criticize Trump
because as a naturalized citizen I could be deported. Will I have to fight for
the freedom of speech that was already mine?
Some say things
will be fine. I have a friend from the South who said people in his are weren’t
worried at all. This was before the inauguration. I wonder how he’s feeling
now. A cheerful and optimistic co-worker said things would work out. Maybe they
will, but if that belief is based on past American history, I’m not sure. Trump’s
election, his complete lack of experience in government, the law or the military,
the protests and his low approval rating before he even took office, are all
unprecedented. He really does want to build a wall and he’s working on it now. (One
thing I will say for Trump is he is doing everything he said would.)
Here’s all I know
to do at this point:
·
Study, read, and write.
·
Follow my passions.
·
Love people, even those I disagree with, but don’t
take abuse.
·
Love people who need a lot of love during these
days.
·
Call or write my representatives.
·
Fight for what I think is right until or unless I
see that I am wrong.
·
Pray.
·
Breathe. A lot.
·
Get Started.
·
Keep Going.
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