A Rotten Pumpkin in the Patch

After a long and unprecedented year, we have finally reached the start of fall season. I have always admired fall for a few reasons: the warmth (and I do not mean the Rio Grande Valley weather), seeing leaves changing into shades of orange and yellow, the seasonal coffee shop drinks and the festivities. 

With Halloween coming up, I have not been able to help but wonder what it is going to be like under the novel coronavirus. I decided that coronavirus is not going to take the fun away from my Halloween experience. I am the type of person to be impulsive and embracing the chaos. However, this does not mean I do not know how to be precautious while still having fun.   

Usually to get into the Halloween spirit, I will watch cult classic movies, mix and match costume ideas, paint my nails a funky festive color and purchase pumpkins from the local farmers’ market. I typically use these pumpkins for decorative purposes. This year, I want to attempt to carve a pumpkin. I have never carved a pumpkin in my life, so I took on Google for artistic inspiration. I then came across a photo that screamed of atrocity. This was a photo of a trumpkin. No, not the fictional character from “The Chronicles of Narnia,” but a pumpkin carving of U.S. President Donald Trump’s face.  

With the timeliness of the 2020 presidential election, I cannot tell if trumpkins are supposed to mock Trump or if they are meant to be used as a supporting political front–yard display. Whatever the case may be, these pumpkins ridicule Trump’s distinct orange-hued face and the flustering facial expressions he makes. It is a contradicting idea, but if it mocks Trump, I simply do not care. 

Let us not forget the way Trump has mocked women by saying “grab them by the pussy,” how he has mocked the Hispanic/Latinx community by calling them “rapists” and how he has mocked the disabled community by making fun of a reporter’s limited arm mobility. Recently, Trump mocked his opponent Democratic hopeful Joe Biden by photoshopping a picture of Biden’s face onto someone who is sitting in a wheelchair. Not to mention, during the first presidential debate, Trump attacked Biden and his dead son. The biggest mockery he has done is to himself. 

Let me say it again: I do not care for Trump’s inflatable (pumpkin-sized) ego and hateful rhetoric because he does not care about the feelings of people searching for their American dream. As his supporters say, “F*ck your feelings,” right?  

If there is something that is more disturbing and worse than a trumpkin, it is another four years of Trump in office undermining American democracy and neglecting people’s injustices. Many lives depend on this year’s presidential election and that is just as fearing. Like trumpkins, Trump is orange on the outside, hallow on the inside and he should be thrown out in November. Smash the trumpkin. Smash the patriarchy.