The Orange Elephant In The Room
- Samantha Castro
- Nov 1, 2024
- 3 min read
I’ve always considered myself to be a selfless person, or at least I try to be. As loyal readers may know, my father is the type of man who would take the shirt off of his back for anyone. He would give away his last $20 to someone who needed it more than him, even if he needed it too. He taught me that everyone is worthy of love and respect. As a doctor, he would let patients have reduced or even skip payments if they weren’t able to afford the medical care that they needed. He helped everyone to the best of his ability, because he believed it was the right thing to do.
(photo from WLRN)
Project 2025, the 922 page Republican blueprint for a second Trump term describes an in-depth plan for repealing the ACA. For people with terminal conditions like my dad, the ACA guarantees them insurance coverage. The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research found that it costs the average Parkinson’s patient $52,000 per year for treatment without insurance access. The ACA is what allows my family to keep my dad alive. Like many with Parkinson’s, my dad can’t hold a job due to the severity of his disability. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote against my dad’s life.
I was thirteen years old when I heard that in 2005, Access Hollywood documented Donald Trump loudly proclaiming that “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” He adds seconds later: “Grab them by the p----. You can do anything.” Over 25 women have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, and he has been found guilty of sexually abusing columnist E. Jean Carroll. Despite this history, Donald Trump is directly responsible for the repeal of Roe v. Wade.
Project 2025 discusses a plan to codify the Hyde and Walton Amendments, limiting federal funding towards abortion and reproductive healthcare, as well as reinforcing the 1873 Comstock Act, preventing people for mailing anything “intended for producing abortion”. I am grateful that Roe v. Wade existed 1,182 days ago when I was a victim of sexual violence and needed access to contraceptives and reproductive healthcare at just fifteen. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote against reproductive freedom for women across America, and a vote for a man who feels entitled to women’s bodies, actively committing and condoning sexual violence.
Project 2025 aims to restrict the application of the Supreme Court’s Bostock v. Clayton County decision, extending workplace protections against sex discrimination to members of the LGBTQ+ community. Without these protections, I can legally be fired from my future job because of who I love and my identity. A vote for Trump is a vote against my future.
At the Trump rally at MSG on October 29th, a comedian remarked that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of garbage”. In September 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, killing over 3,000 people. Donald Trump’s response while in office was to make a mockery of this tragedy, throwing paper towels at civilians and trivializing their trauma. I’ve spent my entire life watching racist comments made at my father due to his Puerto Rican heritage. He was dehumanized due to his cultural identity, as fellow Americans conveniently forget that Puerto Rico is a part of the United States. A vote for Donald Trump shows every Puerto Rican in your life that you do not respect their identity or heritage.
A vote for Donald Trump shows members of every cultural identity that he has offended, such as Black people, everyone on the racially-motivated travel ban list, and too many more, that you care more about the price of gas (which is also Donald Trump’s fault, Americans do in fact live under his tax plan) than their right to prosperity. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for a racist, homophobic, sexist bigot who spews hatred and promotes violently dated policy that is dangerous for the sanctity of our democracy.
Utilize your right to vote, and choose to use your individual power to not vote for a hateful bigot who threw a coup after not being re-elected. This nation requires a respectful, stable, firm leader- all traits that Donald Trump does not encapsulate.
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