#notmypresident

Hey! I’m Sam. I’m twenty nine. I teach yoga. I started a blog some time ago to distract my parents from the fact that I hastily quit my job in fashion, convinced I was the next Carrie Bradshaw, and then neglected it – as I do most things. So here we are. Once an outlet for an angsty brat, this blog was kinda important to me. But alas life moves fast (shout out ferris bueller), and things get lost. Two years after my last post, shit’s fucked up and I wanna talk about it.  To be honest, it depends how many glasses of wine I guzzle (and if I even remember my blogspot password), as to whether or not this is posted… but let’s open a bottle of sauv blanc and find out.

I’ve voted for Hillary Clinton twice. Once in a primary against Barack Obama, and once as President of the United States. Because she is more than qualified. Because she is competent. Because she has experience. Because her husband plays a mean sax. Having proudly cast my vote for Obama twice, I was more than happy to stand with her in this most recent election cycle. Because she is more than qualified. Because she is competent. Because she has experience. Because her husband plays a mean sax (pours second glass).

Living in California, on election night, I felt played. I remember driving home from my last class listening to the radio in disbelief. I taught at 6:30am the next morning, unable to separate my own personal feelings from my job. I couldn’t fathom this reality. And to be honest, I still can’t. In a slew of facebook status's, I’ve voiced my outrage. I’ve asked for understanding. I’ve tried to make jokes. And I was reprimanded by my mother for swearing. So in an attempt to piece my own shit together, here goes.

I have questions. If you voted for Trump, do you have kids? More importantly, do you have a daughter? Is your pussy up for grabs? Is her pussy up for grabs? What will you tell her when you were a part of diminishing her basic human rights? Honestly. I understand money may have been a part of your vote, but what will you say when her rights to her own body are out of her control? What will you say when she asks you why? Why, when you had an opportunity to support her, and her future, you chose to vote with your pocket book instead. Why your wealth was more important than she is. Why she is less than (INSERT ANYTHING ELSE). If you have kids, what kind of planet, kind of environment, are you planning on leaving them? One where climate change was made up by the Chinese? One where WATER is a luxury? One where clean water is a privilege? A country where healthcare isn’t a priority? Where education is a joke? I think that’s what stings most for me, as a daughter of a school teacher. When you support an administration that appoints someone as incompetent as Betsy DeVos, I can’t help but feel insulted. It’s like an abusive relationship. Cut education so no one knows how poorly they’re being treated, or the alternative facts they’re being fed. You take away all of our tools to fight back. So seriously, tell me – a woman with a preexisting condition, who drinks water and went to public school – why you voted as you did, because I need to know.

Did you vote for Trump because of Hillary’s emails? Justifying that is as comparable to switching to Samsung because the iPhone no longer has a headphone jack. THE SAMSUNG LITERALLY EXPLODES but heaven forbid, you buy an attachment for your aux cord. Did you vote for Trump because he promised to “drain the swamp” and you believed him? How’s that working out for you? Or did you vote for Trump because underneath it all, you’re a racist insecure misogynistic bigot with a god complex and no real understanding of politics or the world? (pours third glass).

So congratulations, the asshat you voted for won. Are you happy? Was 1984 a really good year for you? UCLA won the Rose Bowl, and Footloose knocked off Thriller for top album after 37 weeks. Ronald Regan instated the global gag rule, dictating how money should be spent on “family planning.” I wasn’t born yet, but apparently it was rad enough for Trump prioritize it numero uno on his list of executive orders. As were things like travel bans on countries that have shown no threats to security, a refusal of refugees, a complete dismissal of such a basic right as water, and a threat against current trade agreements. But these were all things that you wanted, right?

I won’t stand for this, I won’t. I won’t sit back and watch a president send empty and DANGEROUS threats via twitter, I won’t. I won’t stand for a president who places blame. I won’t stand for a president with zero human decency, who will grab my pussy without even asking. Who will alienate, and divide. Who will take us back in time. WHO WILL COMB OVER HIS HAIR AND SPRAY TAN HIS SKIN LIKE IT’S NO BIG DEAL? No, I’m sorry. I won’t. I can’t.

This man used the election as a pissing contest, and in the process exposed the most disgusting and hateful underbelly of our country. That is what got him elected. And at the end of the day, THAT is what I’m most upset at. That I was so naive to believe we were beyond racism and sexism. We’ve got a long fight to look forward to, and I am SO fired up on Mexican avocados I've onlt begun.

We need to STAND UP for each other. When YOU do better, I do better. There is no scarcity of well being here. Yes, Trump is Our President Elect, but that does not mean we stop fighting. He WILL NOT speak for me. And I will not be silenced.

(pours final glass and clicks publish).