The article i wrote that earned a scholastic silver key award (2018)

Trump’s Presidency, Through the Eyes of a High School Student:

Watching Donald Trump rise to power was a long and draining process. Long because I spent hours watching debates, town halls, interviews with political figures in anticipation of a different outcome. Draining because even though I was a student in Advanced Placement United States History, this election made me feel as if I knew nothing about American politics. It felt like there were new political “rules” everyday. And Donald Trump seemed to make and break almost all of them.

Part of me is sad that the first election I will really remember was this election. I will remember the dirty tactics used to gain votes, the scandals sprouting like weeds, and the blatant, hateful words spat not only by presidential candidates, but also by members of both parties. More important, though, I will remember the dark cloud of hate that this election cast over this country. I watched as candidates faded away, often throwing in their towels because they could not take the pressure that hate was placing on them. I will remember watching our “united” nation slowly divide into two tribal factions: those for the man in office and those against. It no longer felt like we had a two-party system based upon years of beliefs categorizing themselves into their respective parties. No. It felt like we had two hateful groups who hid behind a façade of either Republican or Democrat.

I remember waking up on the morning of November ninth and scrambling to check my phone to see the results. When I saw his face on the news, my insides turned. That is not an exaggeration. How could this man, who had no political experience, run this country? What would foreigners think of us, the country who elected a prosperous reality star to lead the most powerful nation in the world? If I knew one thing that morning, it was that the next four years would be even longer and more draining than the election.

He promised us a new healthcare bill, tax reform, a wall, and so much more. Today, it is November nineteenth, and none of his empty promises have become realities. However, while he has failed us in many ways, he did give us some things we did not anticipate.

Watching Donald Trump withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, remove the “Climate Change” tab on whitehouse.gov, and ridicule such a major issue facing our planet hurt me on a personal level. If we destroy this planet, we do not have anywhere else to go. Countries are sinking, animals are losing their habitats, people are losing their homes to increasingly stronger storms. The acceleration rate of climate change is in our hands, especially people my age, as we will be inheriting this world. This is not a matter he can ignore; the proof is right in front of his eyes. If every country except the United States is part of an agreement, does that not say something about us? We are a world power and an expansive country, which means the withdrawal from this accord and the reintroduction of fossil fuels could hurt the planet more than any other country.

When Donald Trump attacked the media, I saw him acting like a teenager. When teenage girls are upset, they lash out at who they believe is at fault. Similarly, when Donald Trump was upset about the media discussing his actions, he lashed out at any news source that did not speak about him in a manner he deemed appropriate. Then, he tried to take broadcast licenses away from media outlets he did not approve of. In case he is not familiar with the first amendment (which he may not be), freedom of the press is a right granted to all Americans. After all, this is a country built on freedom. Who is he to come in to office and question a government built on hundreds of years of democratic freedoms? He then attempted to stop the merging of Time Warner Cable and AT&T. So, not only does he question freedom of the press, but he also comes close to crossing a line regarding the separation of powers. Our Founding Fathers studied the faults in the English government and its hold over the colonies and established three separate branches of government built on a foundation designed to prohibit one entity from assuming too much power. If the news were censored so the public only heard what the president wanted, how different would this country be than one out of a dystopian fiction novel? (Think 1984.)

Then there is his travel ban. I will admit, at first I did not understand the true implications of this action. I knew it was wrong. Not only did he include countries that were not necessarily viewed as threats, but he generalized innocent people into his view of terrorists. Is it right to generalize the actions of an entire country based on those of a few people? To me, it is not. Most of the people in these countries are trapped in situations that Donald Trump, and the majority of Americans for that matter, would never be able to understand. Who is he to stop them from seeking refuge in our so-called equal and welcoming country?

Donald Trump also seems to have a tendency to twist matters into his point of view before sharing “what happened” with the public. Take Charlottesville, for example. He said that both sides were to blame, but never directly faulted the group of supremacists that his administration no doubt gave power to. His bigotry has fueled the spread of hate for our common man. Moreover, he turned the kneeling of NFL players during the National Anthem into a personal offense. Again, Mr. Trump was acting like a teenage girl in turning a matter completely unrelated to him into something personal, most likely for attention. The football players were kneeling to protest the issue of Black Lives Matter, which has come to life during this administration, but does not directly offend president. He cannot criticize the so called “fake news” when he presents matters to the public only after they are filtered through his point of view.

In more recent news, Donald Trump practically refused to help Puerto Rico recover from hurricane Maria. Need I remind you, Mr. Trump, that Puerto Rico is a United States territory? The people who are dying from contamination, living months without power, sleeping in shelters, and struggling to recover on their own are United States citizens. These people are dependent upon the United States, yet the executive branch, and therefore the government as a whole, has practically turned its back on Puerto Rico. Today, thousands of homes are still without power as this country struggles to stand alone.

When I hear the unordinary loud noise of an airplane, part of me panics because I fear for the day when North Korea might actually have the ability to strike the United States with a nuclear weapon. Never before in my lifetime has the nuclear threat been so prevalent, and it terrifies me. Donald Trump has provoked Kim Jong-un like nobody else. He referred to North Korea’s leader using a term that I would expect to hear out of the mouth of a first grader: “rocket man.” And he goes even further to tweet at Kim Jong-un using the words of, yet again, a teenage girl. I am fearful of the seemingly inevitable fact that Mr. Trump will continue down this path as long as he holds office, which means that North Korea will continue to fire potentially fatal missiles until the day when civilization as we know it is in severe peril. Again, as student of AP US history, I have a strong understanding of the impact of nuclear power on a country. Does Mr. Trump?

In the face of all of this adversity, however, I find solace in what I do have control over. While I was unable to attend the Women’s March in January, I watched proudly as humanity found strength in itself. Mr. Trump may not have appreciated the event, but his opinion held no value in comparison to that of the brave women and men that day. The millions of people who participated and supported such an amazing event were all that mattered to me. Additionally, after the crisis that was Charlottesville, my friends and I attended a small peace rally at my community library. I felt empowered as I held my homemade sign with the words “do not hate on our planet” neatly arranged above a globe with a heart drawn over it. I felt so close to the group of people who attended the rally with me; I believe that what I felt was the definition of solidarity.

The truth is that while the United States has divided, it has also come together. People are experiencing solidarity in its purest form from New York to Hawaii to Los Angeles to Alaska. Those who see what is happening and want change are uniting, all over this expansive country. This is a true testament to the fact that, when faced with adversity, humanity does unite. We will overcome this and rise. We will rebuild these burned bridges someday.

*This essay was written in November of 2017.