How Trump Destroyed My Relationships.
A presidency that has torn families apart and destroyed friendships.
It became apparent to me on election night in 2016 that Donald Trump’s presidency was going to be very divisive — at that moment I felt an overpowering sense of betrayal. I felt betrayed by the people I knew who voted for him. I knew within one hour after he was declared the winner that his presidency was going to lead to massive realignments of relationships and that it was going to destroy many friendships, acquaintanceships and tear many families apart.
After Trump took the podium to give his victory speech, my closest friend at the time, who claimed he voted for Hillary Clinton, applauded the acceptance speech and pledged his allegiance to the president-elect in a Facebook post.
I was incensed by this quick flip-flop, mostly because he was an immigrant like me, a member of one of the targeted groups Trump trampled upon to reach the presidency. When Trump announced his candidacy, he did it basking in inglorious racism by describing Mexicans as rapists and criminals and promised to build a wall to keep them out. He pledged that Mexicans were going to pay for that wall. “Mexicans” are symbolic of all brown and black immigrants and other American minorities against whom the new president intended to discriminate.
