Copyright Women’s March on Paris.
As a Washingtonian woman concerned about the direction the U.S. is taking with a Trump presidency, I will be marching in Washington, D.C. today with my fellow concerned-sisters. Women in Paris and elsewhere will be marching in support of us. While I appreciate the efforts of women worldwide in this endeavor, to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what good the march on Washington will do.
It is against my nature to sound so pessimistic; I consider myself to be a realist with idealist tendencies. But a successful march would involve changing powerful people’s mindsets and behavior towards our new president, and I don’t see that happening. Many Republicans and others have decided to embrace President Trump and disregard, at least to themselves, his horrible rhetoric and actions, if only for their own self-preservation. I suppose I can’t blame them, lest they not have a seat at the power table — or even work, for that matter. But what I can’t get over is…many working women support him.(!) How can this be? Does a man who says he feels he can “grab women by the [crotch]” deserve to be president of the United States? Would any of the women who voted for him allow him to grab them — or their daughters — by their genitals? (To be technical, that wouldn’t be the same thing, since they would be giving him their consent.) Joking about sexually assaulting women is nothing to laugh at or to take lightly. I agree with what Meryl Streep said in her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, that seeing someone in such a position of power do such horrible things creates a culture in which it is acceptable to do what formerly was unacceptable. She was citing Trump’s mocking of a disabled reporter when she said this, but it still applies.
I don’t know what scares me more, a U.S. president who displays unconscionable behavior, or one who might disregard any and all previous international agreements. Trump has said he wants to evoke Nixon’s unpredictability, but the world is a very different place than it was in Nixon’s time. The U.S. is not the only nation with nuclear weapons. A global economy exists today that didn’t exist in Nixon’s time; economic trouble in one nation will eventually be felt around the world. And Nixon was a peacemaker: He opened the door to trade with China, and it was during his administration that the Vietnam war ended. Say what you will about Watergate, but I felt safer with Nixon as president, even if I was just a little girl. And President Nixon sent me a lovely press kit when I wrote him a letter telling him how much I admired him. President Trump, on the other hand, wants to build a wall at the Texas-Mexico border, and he wants to force Mexico to pay for it. He has spoken of “bombing the [censored]” out of a nation whose policies he disagrees with. And he wants to ban reporters at the White House. I somehow doubt that if I were a child now and wrote a letter to President Trump, that he would send me such a lovely press kit; more like an apple with a razor blade in it. Trump is the bogeyman I was warned about when I used to go trick-or-treating. Only he’s not the creepy man living in the corner house; he’s the leader of our nation, living in the same White House as Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan lived in. That’s enough to give me nightmares.
When I think back on what is surely the most successful march on Washington — Dr. Martin Luther King and his followers for equal rights for African-Americans — I marvel at the changes Dr. King helped to bring about, the crowning achievement being the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But before the Civil Rights Act, and before “separate but equal” restrooms, water fountains, and schools were outlawed, Dr. King changed people’s minds. Perhaps even more importantly, he changed people’s hearts. Maybe it came a little at a time, even grudgingly at first, but people of all races came to understand that African-Americans deserved the same human and civil rights that Caucasians and others took for granted. And along the way, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest person to have received that award up to that time.
Does it look like Donald Trump is on the road to being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? He’s on a road all right: the U.S. is going to hell, and he’s driving the bus.
For the record, I was a fan of Donald Trump at one time. Many years ago, I saw him interviewed on Donohue, a popular talk show at the time. While I don’t remember specifics, I do remember walking away from that program being impressed. Donald Trump came across as well-spoken, well-mannered, insightful, and terribly smart. His sense of himself was powerful without being arrogant; I thought he was sexy. What I want to know is, what happened to this man who made such a positive impression on me? I didn’t think it was an act, for he seemed genuine. Never could I have guessed he would turn into the bogeyman of my nightmares.
I’ll be marching in Washington today in an effort to keep the bogeyman at bay. I want to thank my sisters in Paris and elsewhere for supporting this march today. May your efforts not be in vain.
Paris location details:
Where: Human Rights Square at Trocadero, 75016 Paris
When: Today, 2:00 P.M.
Washington DC location details:
Where: Independence Avenue SW & 3rd Street, SW
Washington, DC 20024
When: Today, 10:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Salut !