Letter to the Editor: We Have To Talk About Trump

To the editor of the student newspaper, students of the university, and community members of Frostburg,

We have to talk about Trump.

We don’t even have to discuss the dangers of supporting a candidate that is so heinously under-qualified. We don’t need to talk about his hypocrisy concerning family values. I’m not even here to point out that saying deporting millions of immigrants during his “first hour in office” would include his wife, Melania Trump. These are all issues, yes, but they are not the problem. Trump’s policies are not what are the most frightening. Trump supporters are.

For the last year, we’ve unearthed a lot of unsavory things from Trump’s past including racism, bankruptcies, abuse of immigrants in the labor industry, and many more issues that should make the reasonable American shake their heads, but Trump’s support has been nearly unwavering.

I’ve spent the last year laughing at Trump. I’ve been chiming in with small-hand jokes and laughing at the ridiculousness that is Donald J. Trump’s twitter. But after the release of the the Billy Bush Access Hollywood video, I’m not laughing anymore.

This week, I, from the comfort of my own kitchen, heard a man yell out of his car window “GRAB HER BY THE PUSSY.” Another man, who was on the sidewalk, yelled back, “YEAH, TRUMP 2016.”

This. This is why I am frightened. This is why I am straight up terrified. I was honestly afraid to leave my house. I was scared for my roommate when she walked home from class. I am afraid, and it is 100% because of the staggering support Trump receives in this town. What happened outside my window? That was sexual harassment. That was rape culture. That was a reminder to every woman within earshot that she is nothing more than a sex object on legs.

I have been sexually assaulted twice, and I did not feel the need to buy pepper spray until after this incident. You can criticize what Trump says, but the real effect of Trump’s campaign is the validation his platform gives to the racists, misogynists, and general bigots of the world.