I am no longer scared for America, I am scared of it.
I’ve been trying to hold myself back from writing about Donald Trump as well as my other negative views towards other political figures that don’t agree with me, because I just don’t want to continue to give them the satisfaction of my attention. But here goes.
I will try my best to mention Trump as little as possible in this article,
because at this point my eyes are tired of seeing his hatred-filled face and my ears are tired of hearing of the same old argument of “Well maybe he has a point." Because officially, I am scared. I am disturbed. I am truly shaken up by some of the things I’ve been hearing in the news regarding this man. He is officially being called “scary” and that his views are becoming more dangerous by the second. But I am not scared of him, I am scared of the people in my country.
The news is currently blowing up talking about the Muslim woman being thrown out of the Trump rally simply for being Muslim. She was not disrupting this “political rally” in any way, she just got thrown out because she was Muslim, and she was having a peaceful protest.
There’s no other obvious way to say it. I’m not quite sure how much this surprised me, but I began to feel numb when this happened. The most interesting thing about this incident is that Trump wasn’t the main highlight of the video of her being thrown out, it was his supporters. The thing that caught my eye were the people around her wielding Trump signs and screaming in her face as she was escorted out. This is what scared me the most. And that’s what fascinates me the most about all this.
I barely listen to what Trump says anymore, what really is interesting me is the people holding those signs and the people who support this man and all the racist and dangerous views he reflects.
I also heard just a few days ago that an old friend i know tried to attend a Trump rally with her friend in Burlington, and they were denied access. Why? Because, upon being asked if they were Trump supporters, they said no. They were literally not allowed into a political rally without vowing their allegiance to Trump.
After hearing this, I was finally convinced. This isn’t even a political campaign anymore, but rather it has become more of a mass “movement” that is being fueled by bigoted propaganda, bombastic rhetoric, and white fear. These people do not care if others have different opinions, and neither does their leader. They want the people next to them in a crowd to either be for them or against them, no inbetween. They want to go to a rally where they can scream and yell about how scared they are and how angry they are instead of going to a political event to have a rational, compromised discussion about the issues in our country (you know, like human beings?). And that’s what scares me the most. People have become so scared and so paranoid, that they have forgotten to think about things, they are just yelling. It’s one thing to say “he has a point” and it’s “interesting to see a different type of politician” (which I don’t give a damn about personally, anyway), however it’s another thing to not only be supporting his racist and islamophobic messages, but actually amplifying them. These people could be criticizing him, and trying to find compromises with what he’s saying, but instead they are just following the crowd and giving him a louder, more ignorant voice than even has.
It may sound dramatic saying that I’m afraid of America. But we must understand that humanity is a terribly strong force that can either come together to do good or evil. If the masses are behind something, there is much power in it. I know that these people don’t all represent all of the people in America, but I’d like to focus on the Trump supporters for a second, as well as those that are “undecided” on who to vote for.
Unfortunately, American public opinion tends to sometimes thrive on crowd mentality and it has taken a very frightening turn. And additionally, those are the two things fueling Trump’s campaign, as well as his millions of dollars. The people, the crowds and the angry rallies are the things that are making him strong. But to me, it’s not even about him anymore. To me, they’re supporting the ideas that are very dangerous not only to America, but to all of humanity. This man is feeding off of people’s irrational
fears and willful ignorance and he knows it.
Trump does not scare me, because we have seen this character before, but in smaller doses. We have seen these bigoted views, these racist opinions and these pathetic white fears thrown in our faces whether it’s through the media or at our very own family dinner table. But now, these opinions are being expressed by a man who has much more power than he can control, and he he is being fueled by a large population of the American people. Trump does not scare me, because when I look at his angry face and his pointed finger in the air, I see the embodiment of modern America. Or, more specifically, Modern Angry White America. Whatever you want to call it, but that’s what that is. And it’s finally being unmasked for the world to see.
Trump doesn’t scare me, and that is also why I don’t really care if he becomes president or not. If he does, there will be enough people to either get him out of office, or he will not be able to make enough of his psychotic decisions with Congress or the Senate supporting him (maybe I’m naive, but one can hope). Because in reality, the president doesn’t have that much power, and that is proved through the amount of road blocks Obama has gone through during his terms.
📷SMLXL 📷
However, if he doesn’t become president, I won’t be satisfied. I’ll be relieved, yes. But it is too late. I have already lost a lot of respect for a vast majority of the people in my country. Trump has unveiled a mask off of the American people that was covered for too long. I have now seen, through this man’s “campaign”, the true colors of some of the people in this country and what they are capable of. I don’t know if this is how Germany felt when Hitler came into power, I don’t know if they were noticing this shift in public opinions and the growth in the ignorant masses. But this all seems all too similar at this point. It all seems to unreal, that our own “beautiful” and “free” America would succumb to such a cheap and angry rhetoric that this man is putting out. Some of which isn’t even as strong as the political rhetoric or propaganda that was expressed by the Nazis. It seems like all that some Americans need at this point is an angry man screaming that there are so many things wrong with America, and there’s only a few ways to fix it. It seems that people are too tired of thinking of rational compromises and solutions, but they rather just express their anger towards a specific group in a loud rally, where no one is allowed to disagree with them.
Trump is highlighting the America that we are afraid to face. All I can hope is that this will be a wake up call for us. I hope that we will fight back against this ignorance and against this mass mentality, and not let history repeat itself. Maybe this man was put on this pedestal to test the American people, and to bring into light that there is so much work to do and we have a long way to go. I just hope that we are strong enough to pass the test.
Photos by: Evan Prunty