Donald Trump is not my President....because I don't live in the US anymore.
In 2016 I was still based in New York and was right near Trump Tower when the results came in.
As soon as it was confirmed it was as if people sprouted from the concrete in immediate protest. Although there was anger in the air, the underlying feeling was almost disbelief that somehow the butt of the joke had pulled it off.
Somehow though, this time feels sadder.
It's been 8 years, and in that time this man has taken every opportunity to show the ugliness that lives inside him. At first you think, hmm maybe he is in on the joke? Over inflating his ego for comedic effect? Is it a bit? A poorly thought out character? Then the phrase "when someone shows you who they are, believe them" snaps you out of the confused haze and you realize, oh no...this is no act, this is an egomaniac, gassed up and self serving to his core. The world lays beneath him and as long as he is on top, he doesn't care what state it rots in.
Somehow we ended up here again.
To strip back political parties, red and blue, at it's core we were at the crossroads between decent and disgust and we veered swiftly into the swamp.
There will always be differing opinions, different beliefs and ideals but there are also good humans and bad humans. There are people who work hard and are empathetic to those around them, people who have compassion and those who don't. There are people who have been given everything they have, and expect more, who spit the dummy when things don't go their way, and respond with hatred at every possible turn.
There are people with experience in spades, and people who have bluffed their way to the top.
That is what truly scares me.
An arrogant, entitled man showing the world that nothing has changed. That you can be a narcissistic asshole, never stopping for even a nanosecond to think of anybody else, and people will adorn your name and push power into your hands. With ego your only compass, forging forward, sneering and showing other young egomaniacs how the world still belongs to them.
Young girls wake again to see another highly qualified woman be denied her chance to try.
My heart genuinely hurts for those robbed of the opportunity for a glimpse of hope. Young girls who have to listen to the men in their life jeer and boast about Donald Trump and all he represents. Who have to accept the fact that an under qualified felon is somehow a more acceptable choice than a highly qualified woman. That compassion and empathy are not characteristics we expect from those entrusted to lead.
