By Jewel Marie
I had to work a shift the night following Donald Trump becoming the 2024 president-elect. Somewhere in that shift, I read a customer her total and she responded with “Wow, inflation is already going down, they must’ve put Trump right to work.”
There were so many impulsive thoughts racing through my mind after hearing such a misinformed statement other than the fact it’ll be two months before Trump’s even in office, but all I could really think about was what my own future would look like from here.
I don’t affiliate myself with either political party but to me, there was only one clear option and that was voting for someone who had the greater good of all people in mind; the middle-class, LGBTQ and racial minorities, even the people who disagreed with her and voted for Trump. Despite my own issues with Harris, having someone in office whose main agenda is focused around restricting any and all abortion rights and taking away protections and services for LGBTQ/trans individuals like myself is not the ideal outcome.
I remember there was a time where people could generally respect each other’s differences no matter their political beliefs. I worry this is not that time anymore.
As a result of Trump’s imminent re-election, taxes will go up. Trump’s tax cut plans are mainly centered around those who make more than $500,000 a year, with minor cuts to the middle class. Tariffs on imported goods will also rise – China’s tariffs will go up by 60% and in other countries by 10%. Harris’s plans meanwhile involved tax cuts centered around the middle and lower classes.
This is especially unfortunate because in my experience, there were many who voted Trump only because they expected a better economy and thought that Biden was responsible for inflation and the state of the market.
Now that Trump is returning to office, Project 2025 and Agenda 47 will be imminent, which will result in targeted policies that affect me and others more than me, including the removal of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and protections for discrimination of students, not to mention the threats Project 2025 proposes towards women’s reproductive rights and sexual discrimination.
In this agenda, there are also plans to cut the Department of Education among other policies that could affect millions. Many states like Oklahoma have already expressed plans to bring the Bible back into classrooms, which directly violates our first amendment rights for freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
This might not be my most agreeable opinion, but I believe that as a country we should focus on backing someone who has morals and basic human decency before we focus on the economics and policies. We need someone in office who will back people as a whole before we can worry about anything else. We had that person in Harris and Walz, and in their campaign there were even planned tax cuts centered around the middle and lower classes.
Instead, we got a guy who mocked a disabled person during a rally, threatened a dictatorship upon re-election, called transgender people “sick and deranged” and a “term invented by the radical left.”
I saw a post the other day from an elementary teacher who was upset that one of her boy students told a girl “your body, my choice.” In our world today we have right-winged individuals believing trans people are the biggest threat to minors and meanwhile here we have kids who don’t know a lot about the world saying things like this. This is what modern-day grooming actually looks like.
I am genuinely worried for these next four years and how they will shape out. I am worried for my safety. I am worried for the younger generations. I am worried about generational hate, and I am worried for the others who are going to be more affected by this than me. A vote for Trump is a vote against my rights and my future.
