Dear President-Elect Trump,

Recently, I saw a reporter had asked you if you feel you went overboard in your [hateful] rhetoric during your presidential campaign. You replied simply, “No. I won.”

OK. I can understand that to an extent. I want to view your words akin to “I have no regrets because everything I have done in life has led me to where I am today.” I do understand that sentiment, I really do. I, personally, do not regret things of my past because they have made me the person I am today. Nonetheless, I have no problem recognizing the fact that I have done some really dumb shit. And you have, too. So please acknowledge it.

Please do not make yourself look like an ass hat for not recognizing (and consequently condemning) the hateful acts occurring around the country in the name of your winning the presidency. There is no way you haven’t read the tweets, heard the stories, and watched the videos of minorities living in “Trump’s America.”

I do not want to believe the president-elect of The United States of America is actually a racist, sexist, all-around horrible person. However, there is a lot of evidence suggesting you are. Please, I beg you, prove so many Americans, who believe you are the embodiment of all things bad, wrong.

Please, Mr. President-Elect, tell the public you do not support such hatred in your name. I am asking you to make a public statement condemning ignorance, despite your campaign rhetoric.

I recognize that as a white, cis-gendered, heterosexual, your presidency hardly affects me. Regardless, I am scared, What scares me most, Mr. President-Elect, is not your potential future policies or the fact that you are going to become the face of our country to the rest of the world. What scares me most about you being elected is how many ignorant, hateful Americans view your being elected as a general approval for their ignorance. Do you really think this is OK?

It is not OK to blindly hate all members of the Islam faith. It is not OK to sexually assault women (or men). It is not OK to judge someone based on his or her sexual orientation. It is not OK to spew racial slurs. It is not OK to generalize entire groups of individuals. These things seem obvious, don’t they? Yet your campaign rhetoric seems to have validated them all.

So I get it. You aren’t sorry for the things you said to gain you the presidency. However, aren’t you sorry the country you claim you are going to make “great” now extremely separated based on these things? (Don’t get me started on the “again” part of your slogan, Mr. President-Elect. I know you don’t want to hear what I have to say about that…)

But honestly, can you tell the students who are surrounding their completely legitimate Mexican immigrant classmate chanting “build that wall” it’s not cool to do that? And can’t you tell the various groups of people identifying with the KKK you’re not OK with them endorsing you? You can easily put out the fire of hate that seems to have been started since you were elected our 45th president. However, you are remaining silent. That’s kind of f*cked up, dude. You know it, I know it, and everyone who isn’t too scared to function knows it. (This basically means the privileged allies of America, to be honest, although I hate to admit it).

So…

OK, good job, you won! Now, if you are the person I hope you are, please, set the record straight and speak out against the individuals using your win as an excuse to spread hate.

Sincerely,

Maria