‘All these new things only seem to be working for the higher class of Americans.’

Benjamin Schaaf, 21, is a film student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has become much more engaged in politics as a result of this most recent presidential election, and frustrated with some of the new Trump administration policies. Like many other young people, he sometimes feels as if his voice isn’t heard.

Joseph Bakalars: Do you have any generalized reactions to how the Trump administration has been handling their first few months in office?

Benjamin Schaaf: I’m not surprised that he’s done the things he’s done. He said he was going to do it. It’s frustrating because I don’t agree with his rhetoric, but I’m not surprised. I would love to be proven wrong about him, but we’ll see.

Bakalars: Have you seen this new administration embolden people that are farther extreme on the political spectrum?

Schaaf: With certain people that Trump has brought into his group, it only amplifies this agenda that he’s pushing to all of his followers. People like white supremacists are coming out of the woodwork. He gets all these people in his cabinet, and I don’t know if they are actually going to make this country great since they’re all just feeding into his agenda and his ego. That’s a problem, because the president’s job is to make everyone better off, not just himself.

Bakalars: One of the big things that has been controversial has been all of the different executive orders that Trump has been signing. How do you feel about some of those different things that he’s been doing?

Schaaf: When it comes to cutting funding for certain schools who don’t abide by his rhetoric, it’s worrying, especially when they’re cutting funding for things like diversity programs. I think just because a school has a certain program does not mean you should stop giving them money. Having these diversity programs is amazing. There’s some that are on campus that won’t be able to do as much anymore because of the way that we get funding from the government.

Bakalars: Sometimes it feels like these things aren’t going to affect us personally, but has there been anything that has been done so far or things that we anticipate that they’ll do that you worry about?

Schaaf: It’s this idea of, ‘Yeah I’m gonna be fine for now, but later down the line, I might not.’ All these new things only seem to be working for the higher class of Americans who have more money, wealth, power and influence. It’s not working for the lower class. What we should be working on is actually spreading wealth to help the underprivileged and lower class Americans who need that support instead of cutting these programs that help these people survive. We need to make sure that what the president is doing is benefiting the country and not just benefiting himself and the people around him. I feel like one thing that I see with a lot of leaders is that they are unwilling to reach across the aisle and make this country better because they just want to stick it to the other side. They’re not helping the people that elected them.

Bakalars: There have been senators recently that have been fielding a lot of calls and complaints from their constituents and maybe haven’t been very responsive. Is that frustrating for you as someone who is an active member of the political community?

Schaaf: Yeah, I mean it’s frustrating because you assume that these people that you vote for are going to help you and then you realize, ok, they’re not going to. Sometimes it might feel like we can’t do anything, so just trying to stay positive and keep moving forward is kind of the hardest part when it comes to this stuff. I know there are senators that do want to make a difference, so you just have to keep amplifying those voices and once those voices get heard by many people, hopefully change happens.

Bakalars: Do you have any other thoughts on this our political landscape at the moment?

Schaaf: I think the big thing when people talk about Donald Trump and his campaign is mainly about government spending and immigration, which are two very sensitive topics in this country. I do agree the government does spend money on unnecessary stuff and it needs to be checked better. I’m just afraid that he’s not gonna change the spending and put it towards better things. With immigration, he’s taking a very strong stance on it. In a sense that could make our country better, but if you’re just targeting everyone and anyone who is not an American citizen without taking in certain contexts, it can be dangerous. I feel like with a lot of these problems, especially in Congress, it’s always viewed as a black and white problem. It seems that there’s always two sides and there’s no way to coexist in the middle. I think that there’s always gray areas and you can always find the middle if you try hard enough.