The Truth About Trump Supporters

Damielys Duarte/Assistant Opinion Director

With many Americans celebrating (and mourning) Joe Biden’s unprecedented victory, the after-effects of a long and grueling election year are evident. There is still a massive divide between our political parties, and most of it stems from intolerant Democrats who spent the last four years labeling Trump supporters as “racist,” “homophobic,” “priviledged” and “uneducated.” As a white, Latina Trump supporter I am here to tell you why they’re all wrong.

The truth is most Trump supporters do not form a part of any of those misconceptions and derogatory labels. And contrary to what many would believe, their vote for Trump is not stimulated by ignorance or economic gain, but of their approval of his conservative policies. 

It doesn’t help that the media has furthered this aggression towards Trump supporters by openly labeling the President as “racist” and “homophobic,” despite contrary evidence of Trump denouncing white supremacists on multiple occasions.  This has resulted in the rise of inflammatory language against Trump supporters, to the point where it is applauded to openly blacklist conservatives.

In regards to Trump’s “homophobic” description, he was actually one of the first Presidents to openly acknowledge Pride Month and while his presidency has not revolved around the LGBTQ+ agenda, many conservative gays are okay with that. 

“A lot of people just don’t like to be told they can only think a certain way, and that’s exactly what the left does,” said Bob Kabel, chair of the Log Cabin Republicans, a national gay conservative group. “You’re accused of being a racist or a homophobe if you don’t agree with everything they say, and a lot of people are just tired of that.”

America was founded on the basis of freedom of expression and many liberals have justified their prejudice against Trump supporters because of these unfounded claims that a vote for Trump is racist and homophobic and it cannot be tolerated. These statements are false and fueled by the media’s clear bias against Trump and conservatives. 

We can all have the betterment of our communities in mind and still think differently on how we can approach that.

While voting for a political leader who intends on discriminating against any particular race, ethnicity or religious group should be frowned upon this is not the case of President Trump. He has never openly come out and degraded a particular non-political group nor passed legislation specifically targeting a minority demographic despite the media’s intention to frame him as such.

With the contention of racism and bigotry aside, this only proves that social media’s war on Trump supporters has no factual basis and has resulted in the unnecessary witch hunt and social prejudice against conservatives. The very thing freedom of expression was created to protect and no one has the right to claim that a preference for one political party makes them evil or an unwanted member of society.

Just because Trump’s political campaign does not revolve around the minority struggle does not lessen their value nor label him as a racist. Unfortunately, society has grown too comfortable with continuously harping on inequalities, rather than focusing on the big picture: that we are all Americans. 

Many times conservatives have been asked to vote as if “your skin is not white” assuming that those who vote against liberal policies and politicians such as Joe Biden ultimately means you were born to privilege and need to think of the minority communities around you.

But what is privilege really? Well by the left’s definition it means that you were born into a good life and as a result need to be ashamed of your parents and grandparents advancement and vote as if you did not, in fact, have a very good life.

I was born into privilege by my immigrant parents. My mother immigrated here when she was 11 years old from Cuba and lived in an apartment complex in Hialeah. My dad came at the ripe age of 28 and barely spoke any English. Fast forward 25 years and we live in a suburban area in West Kendall and are part of the growing middle class. 

So my question to liberals is: if you are constantly promoting the betterment of minority communities such as Hispanics, then why are you shaming the success stories instead of praising them? If you truly wanted communities to flourish then you should not be hating nor canceling the individuals who broke the stereotypes of their generation and culture. 

Instead of criticizing those who made it, see them as an example to their community that “yes, we can be successful despite not having the same privilege as other people.”

And yes, there is racism, income disparity, sexual harrassment and discrimination in our country, but pointing fingers and name-calling indviduals who do not share your views resolves nothing and worsens everything. We can all have the betterment of our communities in mind and still think differently on how we can approach that.

I can safely say that the grand majority of Trump supporters do not support racism, white supremacy or discrimination. Instead, we believe that while not everyone is equal, we all have the equal opportunity to do better for ourselves and our community. And that was what America was based on. 

In a perfect world, there would be no social class or inequality, but unfortunately we live in 2020 and Biden’s rise does not signal an end to any of the aforementioned social plagues, but the beginning of much more. 

In the end, no matter who takes the Oath of Office come January 20th, we as Americans need to stop using politics to degrade or cancel one another. Just because we think differently does not mean we do not have the same goals for our nation or that one political party by default makes you a bad person. It is a shame this election became personal when it didn’t have to be and I ask that moving forward we learn to respect our differences and choose our humanity over politics and the media.

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The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.