Trump: Diamond or Coal?

Story by Matthew Walden. Photo provided by queerty.com and businessinsider.com.

DEC. 15, 2016: Trump has now become president and many Americans are in shock and disbelief. Several groups of people who already have limited rights are afraid of what Trump could do to America. These groups include minority races, the LGBTQ community, Muslims, and women. There is even an effort to impeach Trump before he officially takes office. This kind of extreme reaction has never been seen before—even in the 2000 election.

During the 2000 election Al Gore and George Bush ran against each other. Al Gore won the popular vote by 450,000, but because of the electoral college, our president became George Bush. People were more confused than angry and that is because Bush wasn’t who most people wanted. But, he wasn’t a bad guy.

Trump is a person who has made rude remarks about entire groups of people. He has offended women and minorities in ways that just aren’t okay. People in these groups are outraged and many believe that with such views and ideas, he would wreck foreign relationships and lead to the ultimate downfall of America.

Trump is a pretty bad guy in the eyes of many, but does that really affect his ability to lead our country. A lifetime KKK member may be a terrible person, but would that change how well that person could be an accountant or an astronaut? Trump could be a great president if his biased views against immigrants and women does not affect his presidential potential.

Another major concern for many is that we have a Republican congress, Supreme Court and president. In my opinion this is not true. Donald Trump ran as a Republican candidate, but he ran with some democratic ideas and policy views.I believe this could lead to a better divided America in which congress is Republican and the president, cabinet, and Supreme Court would be Democratic.

We may not all be happy about the decision, but we can change the result in four years. So before we jump to any conclusions, we can look at the facts. Everyone is concerned with his social views, but we don’t look at the political, which is what really matters when it comes to presidential skill. This could be the best or worst four years in American history, but that can’t be determined yet. So, it is unfair to freak out. We can only wait and see what happens and decide after we have enough information to back our opinions. Even I am not sure what to think of Trump yet. But, in a year I can actually choose based on statistics and facts.

Matthew Walden is a 9th grade scholar at Friendship Collegiate Academy.