Donald Trump supporters exist at UConn, and we spoke to them

Three Huskies explain why they love the Celebrity Apprentice host

The Tab has worked hard to score the most difficult and coveted interviews on UConn’s campus – the Donald Trump supporters.

Cory Morel, Zach Maitland, and Arina Santangelo were all happy to say they back Trump, and we wanted to give them a chance to air their views honestly.

“Donald’s the man,” Maitland, a 7th-semester entrepreneurial leadership major, said.

“When I look at who’s gonna be a good leader, I look at…do they have balls, or guts (if it’s a woman)? You might think the right things, you might want the right things, but are you gonna make it happen?”

Maitland thinks America needs a President who is not afraid to be politically incorrect.

“I don’t think Donald Trump made racist comments. He said the Mexican government is sending rapists, drug dealers, people with lots of problems…which I think is a very fair statement and is something that needs to be acknowledged.

“The problem with that is, if you say anything close to that, with that level of truth and political incorrectness, we don’t focus on the problem, we just focus on the political incorrectness.”

Being a Donald Trump fan on campus isn’t easy. Maitland said when he professes his affinity for Trump, he is continuously rebuked.

“Other than me and my girlfriend, who has recently become a Trump fan, I really don’t know anyone else [who supports Trump],” Maitland said. “This [the interview] is nice, let’s just leave it at that.”

Cory Morel, a 1st-semester business major, acknowledged his politics come from his upbringing.

“Well, it’s kind of a family thing,” Morel said in answer to why he supports Trump. “We’re all heavy republicans, we’re all business owners and everything. I like him because he speaks the truth. And people don’t like the truth.”

“He doesn’t take crap from anyone,” Morel said. “Whether you like it or not, that’s how he is. He’s a leader, not a follower.”

When asked why he thinks the majority of UConn’s campus is liberal, Morel answered with Trump-esque confidence and candor.

“Probably because my incoming class is the biggest minority class, I believe,” Morel said. “The most racially diverse. They don’t believe him because he doesn’t like many people besides, I have to say, the white people. He favors white people over anyone else.”

In response to whether Trump’s white (privilege) preference bothers Mr. Morel, he said “not really.”

“Donald Trump is representative of the American people,” Morel continued. “Like the old times, before the state became mostly other minorities and stuff like that. And the World Wars.”

“We’re still a superpower, but we’re nowhere near what I believe we used to be. My grandfather and my uncle were Green Berets, and when they go to their veteran stuff now, they say nothing’s like it used to be. No one’s hardcore anymore.”

Morel also offered a picture of what he believes is the divide between Republicans and Democrats.

“I believe almost every kid on this campus gets financial aid,” Morel said. “Republicans I know from my side of the family – they don’t support that kind of stuff. You’re on your own, because most Republicans are wealthy business owners or up there, where here, everyone needs as much help as they can get, and that’s what Democrats are about, helping the smaller man.”

Arina Santangelo, a 5th-semester philosophy major, echoed a lot of the same things as the aforementioned Trump supporters. Where Santangelo differed from her comrades, though, was her concern with women’s issues, like Planned Parenthood.

In defense of Trump’s sexism she put forth an alternative perspective: “It flabbergasts me that, people have the audacity to nail Donald Trump for these things [sexism], when nobody on that stage, or on this earth, can say that they haven’t engaged in similar behavior.”

“People are drawing so much attention to the little things that he’s said, but at the same time, my biggest concern is that we have candidates up there saying that we’re not gonna fund an organization that gives girls who can’t get birth control other places, birth control. Girls who have been in tough situations they couldn’t control. Stripping women of their right to choose is way more sexist.”

As far as being a Trump supporter on UConn’s liberal campus goes, Santangelo thinks people are just afraid to admit their support for The Donald.

“My perception of it is that there’s more [Trump supporters] than I originally thought,” Santangelo said. “You think there’s no one, and you actually see there’s so many more than you thought. I’m not sure if people are still sorta afraid to say it.

“I think a lot of Democrats, conservative Republicans, and people who’s families are rooted in one political party or another, want a more traditional candidate. Donald Trump is not traditional.”

Maitland, Morey, and Santangelo were all good people who should be treated as such. Meeting with them was eye opening in its own way.

As Maitland told me, it’s okay if people disagree, but he’d rather they discuss where the disagreement stems from rather than voicing incongruity plainly and not listening to the counterargument.

This writer, though, sees through the Donald Trump façade. They will be voting for what I regard as a sexist, racist, reality-TV-star-millionaire P.T. Barnum, and it’s wrong to elevate him beyond that.

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