Keeping a watchful eye during Trump presidency

The Nov. 8 election has come and gone and Republican candidate Donald Trump is the next President of the United States. Who would have thought we would be printing those words?

There are many folks out there who are scared — particularly people of color, Muslims, immigrants and the LGBTQ community — of what a Trump presidency means for the country’s future. During his campaign, Trump said and promised many things, including a mass deportation of immigrants and denying some Muslims entry into the country.

People from both sides have reacted to Trump’s victory.

Hours after Trump won the election, people who were against him staged protests in major American cities and started petitions proposing individual or several states seceding from the U.S. There have also been reports of Trump supporters harassing blacks, immigrants and minorities. There have also been attacks on Trump supporters as well.

While some may think it’s appropriate to play R.E.M’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It ,” on an endless loop, the dust is still settling from the election and Trump hasn’t taken the oath of office. We have four years to see how he will do.

The last thing we want is for Trump to run the country into the ground, but hoping he fails as president will not make things better.

One thing we need to remember is there are mechanisms in place that will prevent Trump from carrying out orders that are deemed unconstitutional. Congress (legislative) and the Supreme Court (judicial) are two branches of government that have checks and balances to make sure the presidency (executive) does not have too much power.

While the president has the power to veto a bill proposed by Congress, the Senate can override his veto by two-thirds majority vote. Congress can also impeach the president under extreme circumstances such as treason, bribery or other high crimes. If a president proposes an executive order that is deemed unconstitutional, it can be taken to the Supreme Court.

The president also cannot overturn any decisions made by the Supreme Court, such as same-sex marriage and abortion laws.

Trump has also talked about making the libel law less protective of the press, but that decision would also lie with the Supreme Court.

It will be on both the Supreme Court and Congress to watch over Trump during the next four years to prevent him from turning the presidency into a dictatorship.

The media will also need to be watchdogs and question Trump when he wants to pass orders that will infringe on the rights of others.

When it came to covering the election, the media let their bias get in the way. Rather than focus on the issues that mattered, outlets allowed Trump and Clinton’s personalities and personal lives to set the pace for coverage. Both he and Clinton had secrets in their closet and reporters dug deep to bring those secrets forward, rather than look at how they progressed or regressed as people over the last 20-30 years. Everyone has a skeleton — or 12 — in their closet.

The people, especially those who were against Trump, will also need to be vigilant in the next four years and fight for the progress we’ve made as a country. Even after Trump takes oath of office, things are not going to change overnight. It will take time.

If you’re someone who is not happy about a Trump presidency, now is the time to look in the mirror and ask “how can I be more involved?”