When you hear the term ‘role model’ you think of somebody that is strong, courageous, respectable, and honest. The definition of ‘role model’ in the Merriam- Webster Dictionary is “someone who another person admires and tries to be like.” For many children in the United States, the President can be seen as the ultimate role model, somebody to look up to and try to imitate. In my opinion, Donald Trump is not fit to be a role model and his presidency will be detrimental to children who could look up to him. Here are five reasons why.
1. He Is A Textbook Liar
It’s easy for him to call other people liars such as Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Dr. Ben Carson, but the fact is that he is one of the biggest liars. He has been caught on numerous occasions lying to the public, exactly what he now claims others do. Pulitzer Prize Winning website Politifact.com even awarded him the “PolitiFact’s 2015 Lie of the Year” with only 4 percent of his statements being completely true. Most of his lies are to scare the public into believing there are a lot of bigger issues than there truly are. What's the supposed solution to these problems he makes up? Of course, it's him. He consistently lies to get votes. He scares people and has them believe he is the only solution.
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To exemplify, some of his lies include but are not limited to: “the Mexican government forces many bad people into our country;” that there are “30 million” illegal immigrants in the United States; that he watched “in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering” when the World Trade Center collapsed; and that the unemployment rate in the United States could be as high as “42 percent.” These have all been found to be utter and absolute lies, but Trump is hoping that the voting public will believe him, using scare tactics to divide the American people. We should not have our children subjected to these lies about our beloved country because it creates within them baseless fears, distorting their views of the United States.
2. He Feeds Into Stereotypes, Discrimination, And Racism
It is hard to add up how many times Trump has fed into racism about Latinos, Muslims, or simply people of color. His long list of racism extends beyond his presidential campaign as there has been documented proof of his racism extending all the way back to the 1970’s. He sends a terrible message to children about accepting others’ differences and racial backgrounds by feeding them stereotypes such as Mexicans “bringing problems,” “drugs,” and “crime.” Not to mention saying that they are “rapists.” This type of thinking is detrimental to accepting others' ethnicities especially because it is not true. He is stereotyping various races and acting like he is stating facts. It is dangerous for children to hear this because it will create preexisting views of people of other races and cultures.
Moreover, he said people are coming in from “all over that are killers and rapists,” generalizing immigrants. He wants people, including children, to be afraid of immigrants whether they are illegal or not. His ban on Muslims from entering this country is another example of his obvious discrimination and racism. He makes it seem like most, if not all, Muslims are terrorists and should be feared, which is not the case. It is a made up stereotype that Trump is using and because of it, thousands of innocent people are dying. He is encouraging a bias against different types of people, creating a divide between races. It is deterring children from learning about other cultures, respecting other religions, and having open minds. Even if he does become president, builds a wall, and bans Muslims from entering our country, children are still going to have classmates that are Mexican and Muslim or of color, ethnicities they have been taught to fear.
3. He Promotes Misogyny and Sexism
Trump has an extensive history of misogynistic remarks. Whether it is about his wives or women he has encountered, he chooses to belittle them and judge them based on their appearances. He was quoted calling women “beautiful pieces of ass” instead of human beings and also claiming that they are all gold diggers. He made a comparison between women and buildings as if they are one and the same: “beauty and elegance, whether in a woman, a building, or a work of art, is not just superficial or something pretty to see.” There was also the time when he called Fox reporter Megyn Kelly a “bimbo” and explained that the way she acted was because of her menstruating with “blood coming out of her wherever.” His sexist remarks seem to be endless, demonstrating that it is okay to disrespect women and seeing them as the lesser sex. These are dangerous phrases for young boys to hear and replicate in their own lives. Instead, they need to learn how to respect women and see them as equals, not just sex objects.
4. He Condones And Encourages Violence
There have been numerous times when protestors have gone to a Trump rally and instead of listening to what they have to say, he forcibly removes them or praises violence used against them. When a protestor showed up at a Trump rally, Trump said, “I’d like to punch him in the face,” an extremely inappropriate statement. When a Trump supporter actually did punch that protestor, instead of condemning the act of violence, Trump said, “That’s what we need a little bit more of.” However, that is not where his encouraging of violence stops. In fact, just this week he said he “wanted to hit a couple of [the DNC Speakers] so hard.” And according to him, there was one speaker in particular that he wanted to hit “so hard his head would spin.” Is this promoting of violence what we want our children to hear? Of course not.
5. He Is A Classic School Bully
With all of the anti-Bully Initiatives in schools, I am surprised that Trump has gotten as far as he has by being a bully. His actions and words emulate those of a classic movie bully. Aside from using force to shut people up, he stoops to the level of name- calling, a childish maneuver that is common amongst elementary school students. His name- calling does not just stop at Hillary Clinton by calling her one of his few favorite words “crooked.” He has been quoted on multiple occasions calling an array of people names. He has called John McCain a “dummy,” Mitt Romney “a total joke,” Marco Rubio a “big loser,” Bernie Sanders a “waste of time,” and the list goes on and on. When he has nothing else to say, he resorts to name calling. That is not presidential and it is not what we want to teach our children.
A vote for Trump is a vote for children being exposed to all of these negative things. If he is president, there is no hiding your child from his lying, racism, misogyny, and violence. Children will see his actions and hear his words and want to imitate them because he is President. The already abundant problems in the United States will become stronger and discrimination will continue to expand. If you think he is fit to be a role model for children, you are wrong. Every time Trump is on television, he sends hate-filled messages. If he does become president, there will be a lot more where that came from. He is not just going to scare your children, he is going to scar them.
