When college student Lauren Batchelder asked President-elect Donald Trump about his record with women last year, she never thought her simple question would turn her life upside-down.
Trump Called College Student An ‘Arrogant Young Woman’
Lauren Batchelder took the microphone at an event in New Hampshire in October, 2015, and said to Trump:
“So, maybe I’m wrong, maybe you can prove me wrong, but I don’t think you’re a friend to women.”
Trump first said, “I knew I shouldn’t have picked her,” then attempted to deflect the question with all sorts of braggadocio about how he hires women and respects women, much as he did throughout his entire campaign.
Batchelder wasn’t buying it, though:
“I want to get paid the same as a man, and I think you understand that, so if you become president, will a woman make the same as a man, and do I get to choose what I do with my body?”
And she thought that was the end of it.
But it was just the beginning.
That night, according to the Washington Post:
“After midnight, Trump’s director of social media tweeted out screengrabs of Batchelder’s social-media accounts. Trump’s supporters launched investigations of their own.”
The next day, Trump tweeted:
The arrogant young woman who questioned me in such a nasty fashion at No Labels yesterday was a Jeb staffer! HOW CAN HE BEAT RUSSIA & CHINA?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2015
How can Jeb Bush expect to deal with China, Russia + Iran if he gets caught doing a “plant” during my speech yesterday in NH?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2015
And that’s when Batchelder’s nightmare began.
Trump supporters doxxed her, publicizing her phone number and address, and her social media accounts and email began filling up with threatening messages, many of them sexual in nature:
“[They] rated Batchelder’s physical appearance, threatened to rape or otherwise hurt her and called her vulgar names. A photoshopped picture popped up online depicting her face covered in semen.”
And, a year later, she’s still under attack:
“Five days before the election, she received a Facebook message that read: ‘Wishing I could f—ing punch you in the face. id [sic] then proceed to stomp your head on the curb and urinate in your bloodied mouth and i [sic] know where you live, so watch your f—ing back punk.”
This is what happens when a man with the power Trump holds calls out private citizens. Last October, Trump had 5 million followers. Now he has 17 million. And soon, he will take over the official @POTUS account.
Taking The High Road
Batchelder told the Washington Post that, though she realizes her interview with them may wind up stirring up the deplorables again, she wants the world to know the power of Trump’s Twitter account:
“He can make a difference. He can change the world. And, using Twitter, I think he should use it for good. I think he should use it to uplift others.”
A young college student recognizes what the 70-year-old president-elect of the United States does not.
That gives me hope for the future, at least.
Featured image via screenshots from Washington Post video
