1. Obamacare Will Disappear (Before Election Day)
According to The View's Whoopi Goldberg, people are already losing Obamacare coverage because of Trump. Yes folks, President-elect Trump. "People are starting to get those e-mails and letters saying oh, by the way we're not going to be taking care of this anymore, because we basically don’t have to," she told her fellow co-hosts in a discussion about medical insurance. Come on, Whoopi, even if Trump does repeal Obamacare, it’s going to take months.
2. Sex Will Be Less Fun
In a CNN.com op-ed, feminist writer Jill Filipovic claimed that “sex is about to get a lot less fun” thanks to Donald Trump’s “anti-contraception” HHS pick, Tom Price. (Filipovic is sadly not the only journalist who routinely conflates opposing public funding of contraception with opposing birth control itself.) “Price's plan turns sex for pleasure into a luxury item and puts our health at risk. And it sends women a clear message: That partaking in a full range of human enjoyment and physical experience isn't for us, and that we exist instead to reproduce,” Filipovic stated. This kind of rhetoric helps explain the mad rush for IUDs after Trump’s victory.
3. World War III Is Looming
Back in March, PhD candidate Matthew Taylor penned an op-ed for the Huffington Post, arguing “with only a touch of hyperbole” that a “Trump presidency right now would be a perfect recipe for World War III.” Now that the presidency has been secured, his doomsday rhetoric has dominated the recent journalistic landscape.
4. Women In Third World Nations Might Die
If women in U.S. supported third world countries die from a botched abortion, Trump’s probably the one to blame. “For millions of women, life is about to get more brutal, and potentially shorter, because of a president they didn’t elect in a country they’ve never been,” wrote Cosmopolitan Senior Political Writer Jill Filipovic. In her December 22 op-ed for the women’s magazine, Filipovic discussed how U.S. foreign family-planning aid is held “hostage to American abortion politics.” Under a Trump/Pence administration, the strictures and stipulations will only tighten, she opined, and some women in third world countries “likely won’t live through it.”
5. HIV and AIDS Epidemic Will Worsen
Although Donald Trump is the first president to ever support gay marriage before taking office, LGBT activists are seemingly more concerned about his administration than any which has come before. “Trump’s anti-gay, anti-science cabinet is going to put more people at risk of infection, and make the lives of those already infected worse,” wrote The Guardian’s Steven Thrasher on World AIDS Day (December 1). According to Thrasher, the virus will spread more easily under the leadership of VP-elect Mike Pence, who advocates abstinence and cutting federal AIDS funding to organizations that promote behaviors which transmit the disease. “We must recommit ourselves to fighting a virus which will likely be allowed to flourish by the incoming administration,” he continued. What Mr. Thrasher seems to forget is that Donald Trump and his top officials have little, if nothing, to do with American citizens’ personal choices regarding healthy sexual behavior.
6. Homelessness Will Skyrocket
The poverty rate increased during President Obama's tenure, and the number of homeless students in public schools has increased by 38% since 2009-10 (particularly in states receiving greater numbers of immigrants). But the very fact that Donald Trump has not talked about homelessness, coupled with his selection of Ben Carson for HUD Secretary has many people worried about that particular issue, according to Mother Jones writer Edwin Rios. "Advocates hear Trump's calls to cut taxes and rein in government spending and are reminded of the 1980s, when drastic cuts in federal funding for low-income housing and social services set off a homelessness crisis.”
7. The Press Will Crumble
On Late Night with Seth Meyers, MSNBC show host Rachel Maddow predicted a troubling future for the media under the upcoming administration. So, I’m worried that, if there is a real attack on the press, the press will just crumble because we are so weak as an institution… I think people fall for fake stuff all the time, and the solution to that is just to debunk stuff and tell better real stories. But I’m worried about like a real attack on the press.”
8. The U.S. Will Mirror Argentina
After pinning Argentina's economic descent into inequality and political dissension, Wonkblog reporter Matt O'Brien opined that America could easily follow in the South American country's footsteps. "But what really might make us like Argentina is if we have politicians who deride expertise, who think that policy is something that fits into 140 characters, and who hint that elections are only something you have to respect if you win," O'Brien wrote in his December 22 Washington Post op-ed.
9. The Environment Will Tank
In an op-ed for Cosmopolitan magazine, scientist and writer Yvette d'Entremont offered “5 reasons a Trump administration should scare the sh*t out of anyone who cares about the environment.” Topping that list, of course, was climate change. “I really would love it if climate change weren’t real, but you don’t trust the data that tells you what you want to hear.”
10. Comedy Clubs Will Be Less Funny
In a Huffington Post article, Senior Editor Maxwell Strachan opined that “comedy clubs are becoming less and less funny.” He discussed instances of racist and verbal attacks from conservative audience members emboldened by Trump, quoting one man who said: “Oh, I can tell rape jokes again.” Although Strachan did broach the subject of “very sensitive liberal audiences,” he mentioned but did not condemn liberal comedic attacks on Trump and Trump supporters.
