Is this what you voted for?
While Trump won this fall’s election with 49.87% of the vote, countless Americans have asked themselves this very question as they turn on the news.
As of Wednesday morning, President Trump has signed 38 executive orders in little more than a week in office. This week full of comical Sharpie signatures is just shy of one-quarter of the total number of executive orders signed during the Biden administration. The actions taken in the last week have given the American people neither what they want nor what they need.
Maybe you are a college student who voted for Trump because you are terrified of being able to afford a home or even kids someday. Your plans to pay for school may have been thrown into disarray when, on Tuesday night, the administration announced a freeze on all federal aid and loans. Not only were there concerns that student loans and aid may have been withheld, but a federal judge blocked the freeze only minutes before it was going to go into effect with little notice to the American people.
You could have been surprised by an administration that promised to reduce expenses for everyday Americans threatening trade wars to score cheap political points. President Trump’s tariff threats with Columbia could have raised prices on everyday necessities, not to mention a price jump in flowers during the runup to Valentine’s Day. You have seen that not only have eggs become more expensive, but they have reached an all-time high and are predicted to increase by an additional 20% in the next year.
Maybe you are a child of undocumented immigrants who voted for Trump because of the conservative family values that your parents instilled in you. You have always supported immigration and are sure that the administration’s new deportation efforts will only target those who have a violent criminal history, unlike your parents.
You may have been surprised when the Trump administration announced that before migrants were deported, they could be held at military bases or even Guantanamo Bay. Perhaps, you’re worried about your parents as your feed has been littered with ICE raids across the country on homes, nightclubs and places of worship deporting people whose only crime was coming to America. President Trump has also vowed to end birthright citizenship, which if achieved, could revoke the citizenship that allowed you to vote for him in the first place.
Maybe you are a member of our armed forces who voted for Trump because you wanted to see respect returned to our military and country. From a very young age, your relatives have fought in nearly every war America has waged, there is nothing more honorable in your family than to join the Army.
You may have been surprised to learn that President Trump pardoned all of the rioters who stormed the capital of the democracy you swore to defend, the rioters who beat law enforcement with the flag that you were taught to salute. You imagine what your veteran grandfather would say if he had seen the president’s billionaire advisor mimic the salute of the dictator he died knowing he helped defeat.
Maybe if President Trump went to the college campus and spoke with the first-generation student who struggles to balance her classes, studying and a part-time job to support her family back home, he would understand the status quo just won’t do. Then, he could feel the pressure of struggling to support yourself while being pressured to be the first in your family to get a degree.
Maybe if President Trump went to the border communities and met the immigrant workers who sweat in the hot sun harvesting, he would understand how real their commitment to this country is. Then, he could understand a commitment to America as real as the bills opened, tears shed and meals shared around their kitchen table in their family home.
Maybe if President Trump went to the dive bar just off base and spoke with the nervous second lieutenant who was preparing to deploy he would understand the meaning of patriotism. Then, he could see what it means to be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in hopes of protecting something greater than oneself.
If you find yourself questioning if you are better off than you were four years ago, you are not alone. In the first two weeks of the Trump presidency, we have not seen a leader of hope but instead, a man prepared to enact his vengeance on his political enemies and steer this nation down a dark road. From coast to coast in communities across this country, Americans are waking up to a sad reality.
They are realizing that maybe, just maybe, this is not what they voted for.
