Friday marked the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States.
Donald Trump is now our president, and I’ve never felt more disappointed in my country.
Already, Trump has plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which is going to change the lives of many people, young and old.
People with pre-existing conditions are basically going to be completely screwed because they won’t be able to get insurance, and young people will be kicked off of their parents’ insurance as soon as they exit college.
How is this better for us?
Along with repealing the ACA, Trump has nominated a terrible choice for secretary of education, Michigan’s own Betsy DeVos.
DeVos and her family have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Republican party over the years, and many people, including me and Sen. Bernie Sanders, believe that her contributions helped her land the nomination, not her knowledge or work in education.
She has no experience with any public schools or colleges and no degrees or experience in teaching. But for whatever reason, she is Trump’s choice.
Our new vice president, Mike Pence, is equally as bad, or possibly worse, than Trump.
The law he passed as governor of Indiana that allowed business owners to deny service to gay people (discriminate) has received much criticism, and his career as a politician would have likely ended after his term as governor if Trump hadn’t chosen him as his running mate.
These are just a few of the major problems with Trump and his prospective cabinet.
However, I’m not going to be one of those people who hope Trump fails our country and kills our progress (even though it wouldn’t surprise me).
I hope that he does decrease our national debt.
I hope he does have a plan to replace the ACA with something “better.”
I hope he does push for term limits on members of Congress.
I hope he does “take out ISIS,” even though he has yet to tell us about his plan to do so.
I hope he accomplishes things that all people can benefit from, and not just his rich, conservative buddies.
As much as I would have liked for any other candidate to have won, unfortunately, it’s Trump for the time being.
But this does not mean we should give up all hope for our country.
We need to continue supporting each other and fighting for the things we believe in.
Democrat, Republican, independent or green, we are still all fighting for a happier and healthier America. We just all have our own ways of going about it.
I hope Trump accomplishes the promises of his campaign that will bring positive change.
I also hope that Congress and the people stop him from instituting negative change.
The next four years will certainly be interesting, and I hope they go by quickly and smoothly.
I hope that, in the meantime, we can work to make sure that Trump does not get us into any social, economic or physical places that we don’t want to be.
And I hope that, in doing so, we can unite as a people with a common goal: to save our country and all of its people.
