Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo

What Does Our Choice Say About Us As A Nation?

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UIC chapter.

When Donald Trump announced that he was going to run for President, we laughed. How would a man with zero qualifications, zero previous government positions held (not even once a literal garbage man), a sexual assault record, an openly racist, misogynistic, homophobic, stubborn, immature, crude, widely hated man who has bankrupted his businesses more than once ever be elected President?

To this day, I still don’t know the answer to that question.

 

However, I do know that this says a great deal about America. While there has been a rise in feminist movements, the legalization of same sex marriages, and more non-discriminatory laws passed in order to open up the working world for immigrants, we have proven to the rest of the world that we are not as close to social reform as we would like to convince ourselves.

This election is a game changer for our country. We may have taken one step forward, but electing Donald Trump as our President was two steps back.

Watching the increasing amount of support for Trump over Clinton on Election Night, I felt heartbroken. Being anything other than a white male in America is watching your country disregard your rights and security by electing a President who has vitiated, and who wants to continue to vitiate, the rights of women, minorities, and the LGBTQ community.

What does our choice of a sexist, racist, homophobic man say for our country, the home of the free?

Ariana Antonelli is an English major at University of Illinois at Chicago who loves baking, cooking, DIY projects, and writing. Ariana has been collecting recipes for two years and she loves to share them with whoever is willing to listen. Ariana loves giving and receiving self-help and girl advice and is excited to make Her Campus her platform for doing so.
UIC Contributor.