(Discrimination in Donald Trump's Presidency)

Introduction

Donald J. Trump began his presidential campaign on June 21, 2015, and since then he has said numerous unacceptable statements and executed several controversial actions. The Trump campaign and presidency has been one of the most controvercial in history due to his explicit discrimination of minority groups. Discrimination entails the act of making a distinction against someone based on the group, class, sex, or other category they may belong to or associate with. During both his campaign and his time in office, President Trump has shown acts of discrimination in many forms, including gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability differences.

Gender

On January 23, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order which prohibits giving US funding to international non-governmental organizations who specialize in developing family planning options for women if they include the act of abortions. This can prove to be detrimental for millions of women in the developing world who require assistance in accessing contraceptives and abortions. Not only will the lack of contraceptives increase unexpected pregnancy rates, but it will also result in more maternal deaths from women who have to resort to using unsafe abortion methods. This is extremely concerning because both the short and long term affects of this order targets females, and so it not only discriminates against a specific gender, but also discriminates against one's reproductive rights. It is interesting to note that Trump signed an order about female reproductive rights with not a single female in sight at the time of the signing.

Trump signs an anti-abortion order without a single woman present.

Ethnicity

Mexico

One of the many ethnic groups Donald Trump has explicitly discriminated against are Mexicans. Trump plans to build a wall between the United States and Mexico border, and also plans on forcing Mexico to pay for it. This notion sends a message of hostility to the Mexicans, as it shows that they are no longer welcome in America. He plans on using a number of methods in order to get Mexico to pay for the wall, including shedding light onto the annual trade deficit America has with Mexico, taxing any imported Mexican goods, taxing any remittances sent home to Mexican families by their primary providers, or prohibiting such transactions from occurring in the first place. Trump also threatened the President of Mexico by stating that if he does not have any intentions to pay for the wall, he would cancel any upcoming meetings. This is an extremely undiplomatic move, as refusing to meet with another Head of State, and that too of America's largest trading partner, shows an act of disrespect that other countries can recognize, ultimately resulting in the embarrassment for the Mexican President. In case there was any doubt of Trump's stance on Mexico, during one of his campaign speeches he claimed Mexicans are bringing drugs and crime into the US, and even went so far as to call them rapists. Trump's stance on Mexicans is quite ironic because there is a significant number of Mexicans who work for Trump in various aspects of his franchise. This intent on isolating America from Mexico, both physically and metaphorically, along with his derogatory remarks, display an act of discrimination towards Mexicans.

"Muslim Ban"

On January 27, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order #13769, which he is calling a travel ban, but many others are calling a muslim ban. The order entails that individuals from 7 muslim majority countries are prohibited from entering the United States for a period of 90 days, regardless if they are already a permanent resident or Visa holder of the country. However this ban does not apply to individuals who are of a minority religion in these muslim majority countries, which implies that this ban only applies to muslims. The order also suspended refugees from entering the Untied States for a period of 120 days, and since the majority of refugees in the past year have been from Syria, another muslim majority country, this too can be seen as an attack on muslims. During the Democratic Convention, the father of a muslim Gold Star American soldier spoke out against Trump, stating that his son would not have even been allowed in the United States, and therefore would not have been killed in battle if Trump was in charge, which is a reference to Trump's travel ban. Trump later questioned whether the soldier's mother, who was silently accompanying her husband on stage, had been forbidden to speak due to her religious obligations. Critics state his comments implied that she was oppressed due to the fact that she was a woman, implying that women are oppressed in Islam. This muslim ban is another example of how Trump is discriminating against a certain ethnic group, which in this case is an entire religion, by denying entry to individuals from specific countries.

Sexual Orientation

LGBTQ

During Obama's presidency, he not only legalized gay marriage, but also signed an executive order that would protect the rights of LGBT in workplace by banning any sorts of discrimination from federal contractors, which he reinforced by also signing an order that would force businesses to prove they were abiding by this law. However on March 27, 2017, Trump signed an executive order that rescended that of Obama's, ultimately making it difficult for government agencies to prove whether or not a company is discriminating against LGBT individuals. This troubling order allows companies to discriminate against the LGBTQ community with virtually no way of proving that they are, and therefore no ground for prosecuting the companies if they do. The order essentially acts as a statement to the companies that the government of the United States of America does not care whether or not you violate the federal law; a frightening statement to say the least. In fact, within hours of Trump officially taking office, the LGBTQ page from the White House website was removed, and there are no longer any references of LGBTQ in any form on the website. Trump's signing of the executive order and his removal of the LGBTQ section from the White House website can be seen as blatant acts of discrimination against this community.

Within hours of Trump taking office, the LGBT page had been removed from the White House website.

Disabled Persons

In one of his campaign speeches in November 2015, Trump visibly mocked a disabled reporter with whom he was not pleased. This reporter had allegedly broadcasted a story that later turned out to be based on false facts, but did not retract the story. Trump recounted his interaction with the reporter during his speech, where he then began to move his hands in such a way as to mock the reporter and his visible disabilty. Trump was criticized for openly discriminating against an individual solely due to the fact that he was disabled.

Donald Trump appears to mock a disabled reporter.