By Emily Monaco Editorial Staff If you're reading this, it's been a month since the election. Before Donald Trump was elected for his second term as president, his campaign embraced anti-women, xenophobic, and hate-based rhetoric. After he was declared the winner of the presidential election, online hate speech has skyrocketed. You can see it each time you open Instagram, Facebook, or X. Nick Fuentes, a famed far-right antisemitic, white supremacist has coined the term “your body, my choice.” This quote comes from the video he posted after the election, laughing about how women will always lose. He said, “Your body, my choice forever.” This term has taken off online and has been used to mock women's rights to autonomy. Following Trump’s victory, people like Nick Fuentes believe that they are completely untouchable. After the outrage online, Fuentes’ address was leaked to the internet. When he was confronted by a woman, Marla Rose, who approached his front door, he sprayed her with a liquid similar to pepper spray or mace, pushed her down the front steps, and stole her phone. The altercation was recorded by Rose and the video was posted on X, but the original post came from her Facebook which has since been deleted. This is what many Americans knew would happen if Trump won the election. Someone who spews hate speech and brags about sexually assaulting women having the highest-ranking position in the country would enable similar behavior. Hate speech not only increased toward women. Anonymous text messages have been sent to African American students at different colleges and universities across the country. According to NPR, the FBI has made a recent statement regarding these text messages, which have now spread to high-school students. The messages included statements about being "selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.” The messages have spread to Hispanic and LGBTQ+ students as well, with messages about being “selected for deportation” or “report to a re-education camp.” Since Elon Musk took ownership of X he has opened the doors to hate speech and misinformation. People have been fleeing to other platforms such as Bluesky. Now he has been promised a special position made just for him in Donald Trump’s government. Billionaires have no place in government, especially Elon Musk. Elon Musk's daughter, Vivian Wilson, has spoken out about how her father berated her for being queer as a child. In an interview with NBC, she stated he claimed that she was “dead” and that she had tricked him into letting her get gender-affirming care at 16. How is it that we live in a country where a convicted felon and rapist can hold the highest position in government? What does this teach our children and future generations? What does this teach people about who we are as Americans? We need to confront that hate exists - it hasn’t been eradicated. We have been progressing as a society, but people like Donald Trump are bringing us back. It is not enough to condemn hate speech. We need to be honest, hold each other accountable, and learn from it. A magnifying glass has been held up in this country, and we are forced to look at all of the ugly bits and pieces that make up America - a country whose history is deeply rooted in racism and sexism. Trump has brought these pieces to the surface of our world since the election by blaming women, immigrants, and queer people for all of our problems. Hate isn’t born, it is taught. Why should we be surprised that the spread of hate has been spiking since the election? Education in this country has been on the downfall, and now Republicans want to dismantle the Department of Education. Lack of educational resources and media literacy has led us to the point where people like Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and other extremists get to take positions of power that dictate how individuals get to live. Teaching about the systems on which this country was founded is essential for progress against oppressive and regressive policies. Most importantly it equips us for the fight against hate.