Letter to the editor by Izzi Stubs
Like most other people around me, I have been holding my breath in the months leading up to the presidential election. I’ve experienced such a wide array of emotions: hope, fear, worry, anger, confidence, inspiration and so many more that I can’t even put into words. Now that the results are in, I am left with grief and fear, but also hope. Besides, there is always a bright side, no matter how small.
When President-Elect Donald Trump was first elected to office in 2016, he was able to maintain a good economy. He has promised to do so again by reducing inflation, exempting certain services from taxes and creating jobs. Trump has also taken an interest in addressing our country’s frankenfood crisis, which could be beneficial in the long run. Finally, he intends to expand access to charter schools, which could have a positive effect on the economy and on the education level of the population.
Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good. Trump’s second-term plans include drastically altering our education system, stripping women and LGBTQ+ people of their rights, initiating mass deportation and cracking down on immigration policies, pouring money into the military, reversing green energy progress and strengthening his own power.
Trump is planning to abolish the Department of Education and do away with any K-12 curriculum that includes gender, sexuality, diversity or political studies. This marginalizes anyone who is not a straight, white male. Women, people of color and LGBTQ+ people will see significantly less representation in their schooling, and this poses a major problem surrounding equity and equal opportunity. He also intends to tax college endowments and to have more control over higher education in general.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, American women lost their federal right to a termination of pregnancy. Now, individual states decide whether or not women should have access to abortion, which will result in the loss of innumerable innocent women’s lives. Trump stated that legislative decisions on abortion are safe in the hands of individual states, but bragged that he played an important role in overturning Roe v. Wade. His vice president, J.D. Vance, is notoriously anti-abortion, which does not bode well for anyone who becomes pregnant and does not want to be. Women’s voices in their own healthcare decisions are in danger under the Trump Administration.
Same-sex marriage was only legalized in the United States in 2015. Not even 10 years later, Trump is trying to sabotage queer rights. As previously mentioned, he intends to take gender and sexuality studies out of the American education system, but he also demanded that Congress only recognize two genders at birth and that government inclusion programs be defunded. Trump also continues to make unfounded claims about the impact of transgender rights on the American national identity, claiming that a child can go to school and come back with a sex-change operation, that trans people are a threat to sporting events and that young people are choosing to transition in order to get into more prestigious schools. Trump has outright mocked many LGBTQ+ people, and regularly refers to Anderson Cooper, a CNN anchor who happens to be gay, as “Allison Cooper,” which is mildly ironic considering his stance on trans people.
Trump has his heart set on a mass deportation of illegal immigrants, which could actually cost him billions and harm the economy, not to mention that those immigrants are people just like us. Illegal immigrants tend to work the jobs that no one else wants to do, in fields such as hospitality, agriculture and sanitation. If millions of these workers were suddenly removed from the system, there would be profound negative consequences. He also intends to change asylum laws so significantly that immigration will be curbed almost completely.
As of 2024, the USmilitary budget is over $800 billion. Trump intends to increase this budget by spending more on military technology. This is superfluous, considering that the U.S. has one of the strongest militaries in the world, and we are not in active war. This money would be better spent on healthcare, education, homelessness, hunger and so many more prevalent issues. It’s also relevant to note that the U.S. has over $30 trillion in debt, so the money could certainly go elsewhere.
Trump is a known climate change denier, and as such, he aims to reduce President Joe Biden’s green energy initiatives in favor of increased oil production. Under the Trump Administration, we will be less-emission conscious and contribute heavily to our planet’s rapid and dangerous decline. Gas prices may go down, but the cost in lives lost to extreme weather events caused by climate change will go up.
Finally, Trump is looking to increase his power by making it easier to terminate government employees on the grounds that they do not qualify for civil service protection. This means that fewer people would work with the government, thus giving Trump more power. He also aims to reduce the influence of the remaining workers and to strengthen the authority of the White House. We have a system of checks and balances for this exact reason, but that system relies on strict cooperation with constitutional law, which Trump is notorious for either finding loopholes in or overlooking completely.
If you would like to learn more about what the next four years may look like, check out Donald Trump’s website or these articles by Holland & Knight, NPR, and AP News.
