“Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.”
Donald Trump tweeted that on the morning of Feb. 6. The president of the United States made a public statement that “negative polls are fake news.” And I mean, the President said it, so it must be true right?
I hope you’re shouting “Wrong!” like you’re part of a Blue’s Clues episode. Obviously this can’t be true. Every single negative poll about you is untrue? Really, Donald? You watched millions of women and feminists march against you the day after your inauguration. You watch people protest you nearly every day. Just last weekend I participated in a protest against your Muslim ban, and I did not march alone.
Please tell me again that “people want border security and extreme vetting.”
This tweet is not an isolated incident. Donald Trump has outright lied to the American people on Twitter, in speeches, via Press Secretary Sean Spicer and alternative-facts-spewer Kellyanne Conway. On top of that, his rhetoric is intimidating, and I would go so far as to say it is dystopian.
Let’s examine another one of Trump’s tweets. It’s not hard to find one that should downright terrify you, but we’ll focus on this beauty from Feb. 4:
“What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?”
There are several things about this tweet that should scare you, not the least of which is that Trump truly believes Islam and Muslim-majority countries are responsible for major terror attacks around the world. I want to focus on the phrasing of the sentence, specifically, “What is our country coming to...”
In saying this, Trump implies that something is wrong, something has changed and our entire nation is going to be punished for this mistake. Hopefully you are aware that the reason we even have a judicial branch is to prevent our executive and legislative branches from becoming too powerful. Part of a judge’s job is to declare executive orders unconstitutional when they are, in fact, unconstitutional.
Trump’s rhetoric implies a deep misunderstanding of both the constitution as well as the history of the United States. But maybe he’s doing it on purpose. He frames his ideas in such a way as to capture the imaginations of those who voted for him in the first place. If they think this judge’s ruling was not only wrong but could also potentially motivate a worse America, Trump’s supporters will fall deeper under his spell.
That should scare you no matter who you voted for, even if it was Trump. You should be afraid that our leader writes about his opinions in the most public forum we have developed, and you should be afraid that he works to discredit not only the media but also federal judges across the country.
If I had more space, more time and more research, I would love to write about how Trump’s rhetoric, campaign and the first actions of his presidency rival moves made by one Adolf Hitler, but fear not! A quick Google search will give you plenty of accredited articles debating both sides of whether or not you can properly compare Trump to Hitler.
Before I close out this op-ed, I will touch on the infamous campaign slogan that inspired millions of people to vote for four years of terrible, terrible hair: “Make America Great Again.”
I found the slogan deeply problematic and a little bit brainwashy. First off, it implies that the America we have now isn’t great and that some unknown America of yesteryear was. I can get behind the argument that America isn’t great now. We still have a long, long way to go in terms of civil rights, LGBT+ rights and human rights in general.
However, looking back on a history that saw slavery, Jim Crowe laws, the AIDS crisis and Japanese internment among others, I believe this is the best America we’ve ever had.
Somehow Donald Trump convinced millions of Americans otherwise. He appealed to the everyman, to the person looking for the American Dream. Yeah America’s bad, but YOU can help make it great again!
That should scare you. If you didn’t vote for Trump, I imagine you’re already scared, but in case you’re not, or in case you did vote for him, think about it. Think about how millions of Americans let a man with no political experience and little to no knowledge of the way our country works get inside their heads.
That should scare you.
Gillian Lelchuk is a junior Writing Seminars and mathematics double major from Los Alamitos, Calif. She is the Opinions Editor.
