Trump is just a political candidate but Trumpism is something more: a genuine social movement. Trumpism is having a major impact on American society by making expressions of bigotry more common. The Southern Poverty Law Center, using an online survey of teachers, has compiled alarming evidence of how Trumpism is manifesting itself in American schools. Although not a scientific poll, the survey does have value in compiling the testimony of more than 5,000 teachers, who indicate that Trump’s poisonous rhetoric is spilling over into classrooms across America.
“My students are terrified of Donald Trump,” wrote a teacher from a middle school with a large population of African-American Muslims. “They think that if he’s elected, all black people will get sent back to Africa.”
In state after state, teachers reported similar fears.
A K-3 teacher in Oregon said her black students are “concerned for their safety because of what they see on TV at Trump rallies.” In Tennessee, a kindergarten teacher said a Latino child—told by classmates that he will be deported and blocked from returning home by a wall—asks every day, “Is the wall here yet?”
A number of teachers reported that students are using the word “Trump” as a taunt or chant as they gang up on others.
Trump may well lose the Republican primary, and will almost certainly lose the general election even if he wins the GOP nomination, but the ripple effects of Trumpism will be felt for years to come.