This year’s election has been quite the show. A lot has happened in the course of a year, and it ended with something most of us were not expecting, Trump being elected president. He has been attacking minorities throughout his entire campaign and being an all-around bully to anyone that doesn’t fit in his idea of a “perfect person.” Because of the amount of bullying that Trump does, his supporters and others feel justified to do the same.

Bullying has been an issue within society for a long time, especially within schools. In recent years, there have been programs put in place to deal with and minimize bullying. But now it seems like all that work has been in vain. Trump has been publicly attacking women, Hispanics, Muslims, immigrants, handicapped, lgbtq+ and other minorities. And all this behavior has created “The Trump Effect.” The Trump Effect is what bullying has become due to Trump’s rhetoric.

“This election affects me because the way he talks about women is disgusting. I have many lgbtq+ friends and they are being affected and what affects them affects me,” said Naima Chamorro, a LaGuardia freshman. Naima said that there are frequent protests around her school against the arts and lgbtq+ people. She added that before we were all concerned about cyber-bullying, but she believes that now it has been brought back to real life.

A survey of teachers conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a teaching tolerance program, found a disturbing increase of bullying, in particular in bigoted harassment especially towards those groups targeted by Trump. In some cases, Trump’s name has been used as a threat. In the same article, it states that fans of a predominantly white soccer team chanted “build a wall” towards the opposing team that was predominantly Hispanic.

On one hand, there are teenagers who feel empowered and legitimized in their hateful behavior and speech. But on the other hand, we have teens who feel threatened and scared about what will happen to them or others. They also most likely feel belittled or put down. This is a widespread phenomenon that’s affecting people across the United States. “It’s almost like children are finding new ways to hurt each other.”

School is an important part of teenagers lives, therefore, it should try to provide a safe environment and support for the students. Naima said that students should find a teacher or adult in or out of their school that they feel comfortable opening up to and talking to about their concerns and fears. Teachers should reassure their students that their school is a safe place and that the adults there care about them. They should provide kids with positive role models, positive ideas of themselves and of their communities.

Students themselves can also be proactive and supportive. They can create groups and clubs in their schools to help students being affected by this new resurgence of bullying, misogyny, homophobia, racism, sexism and xenophobia that is being fueled by Trump.