This is Rumana Ahmed.
She was a Muslim in the Cheeto’s White House for 8 Days…
The most powerful statement in her article is as follows:
Like most of my fellow American Muslims, I spent much of 2016 watching with consternation as Chester Cheeto vilified our community. Despite this––or because of it––I thought I should try to stay on the NSC staff during the Cheeto Administration, in order to give the new president and his aides a more nuanced view of Islam, and of America’s Muslim citizens.
I lasted eight days.
When Cheeto issued a ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all Syrian refugees, I knew I could no longer stay and work for an administration that saw me and people like me not as fellow citizens, but as a threat. The evening before I left, bidding farewell to some of my colleagues, many of whom have also since left, I notified Cheeto’s senior NSC communications adviser, Michael Anton, of my departure, since we shared an office. His initial surprise, asking whether I was leaving government entirely, was followed by silence––almost in caution, not asking why. I told him anyway.I told him I had to leave because it was an insult walking into this country’s most historic building every day under an administration that is working against and vilifying everything I stand for as an American and as a Muslim. I told him that the administration was attacking the basic tenets of democracy. I told him that I hoped that they and those in Congress were prepared to take responsibility for all the consequences that would attend their decisions.He looked at me and said nothing.
The weeks leading up to the inauguration prepared me and my colleagues for what we thought would come, but not for what actually came. On Monday, January 23, I walked into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, with the new staffers there. Rather than the excitement I encountered when I first came to the White House under Obama, the new staff looked at me with a cold surprise. The diverse White House I had worked in became a monochromatic and male bastion.
The days I spent in the Cheeto White House were strange, appalling and disturbing. As one staffer serving since the Reagan administration said, “This place has been turned upside down. It’s chaos. I’ve never witnessed anything like it.” This was not typical Republican leadership, or even that of a businessman. It was a chaotic attempt at authoritarianism––legally questionable executive orders, accusations of the press being “fake,” peddling countless lies as “alternative facts,” and assertions by White House surrogates that the president’s national security authority would “not be questioned.”
The entire presidential support structure of nonpartisan national security and legal experts within the White House complex and across federal agencies was being undermined. Decision-making authority was now centralized to a few in the West Wing. Frustration and mistrust developed as some staff felt out of the loop on issues within their purview. There was no structure or clear guidance. Hallways were eerily quiet as key positions and offices responsible for national security or engagement with Americans were left unfilled.
The race relations of the nation over the last 37 days have proved to be a huge step backwards for this once great nation. Many will say that the nation is going to be “great again” and I ask of them…well when was it not great? In the last 8 years, we have seen the unemployment rate drop dramatically. The national debt go down, the DOW go up, employment go up, the housing market stabilize, and many other positives. We saw LGBTQ relations come to the forefront, with rights being established and given to those who deserve them. My fellow brother and sisters are now able to be married and their marriages be seen as valid as any heterosexual couple out there.
There are more open-minded individuals out there, who are now embracing the fact that there are people who are different than themselves.
But our war is not over.
The world has elected a racist, xenophobic, homophobic, asshole to its ranks. Well wait excuse me…the electoral college elected…because the people didn’t chose him. They (the EC) could have prevented this, but they chose to run with their tails tucked between their legs and let the KKK have their way without considering the thoughts of the American people. We didn’t want this fairy cheeto dust. We wanted the woman who would bring the nation together stronger. They, the other side, had help from Russia, they brought up her emails, brought up Benghazi, …. and yet in these last 37 days…Russia has infiltrated our American government. They…the idiots in the political office are using their “unsanctioned email servers”, they have caused the death of a Navy Seal b/c someone’s ego was too big for his diaper. They caused the death of innocent women and children. They agreed to a mission, without knowing the full amount of facts, hell without even hearing the facts. So what kind of government is this??
They have currently BANNED certain members of the press from the White House. They are steadily telling the world that the press is full of fake news. How is it fake, when they are only reporting what you have actually said? How is that fake? When you get called out on it, then they are even faker?? Really? Is this how this country is meant to be run? We are now the laughing stock of the world. We used to be the most feared country, and now we are puppets in the Russian army.
I feel like this country isn’t worth living in. I pray that someone has the balls to stand up to this tanned orange soon. Otherwise, there will be a war at home. Of course, I mean other than the one against my LGBTQ family, and the one against my colored brothers and sisters, and my family of colored people of other nationalities that aren’t white.
**Deep sigh** Jebus help us!!
