There are many things one could say about Donald Trump, and a lot of negative things at that. But I am uninterested in those arguments; my issue is with why Donald Trump is problematic for the country at its core. Donald Trump, contrary to even his own beliefs, is un-American.

As an exercise in my political science course the other day, I was close reading the Declaration of Independence. It’s a pretty simple task to read the documents that helped birth your country, but I’m not sure a lot of people have actually taken the time to do so. Throughout the class discussion, it struck me that the ideals Donald Trump has aligned with go against those that this country was founded upon.

“… it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

To boil it down, America was founded to rid itself of a king who was depriving the common man of rights. Trump is king-like in wealth and status, which does nothing to help him see the interests of the common people, even if he claims to.

Trump is a convicted felon. Normally, this charge would be a larger deal and would generally prevent an individual from receiving government assistance, helping to punish them. Trump’s celebrity has taken no hit despite his conviction. He will not suffer the way others in his shoes would. Trump sees himself as untouchable, much like this nation’s former king, and because of that, he has no way to relate to the common people.

Trump is not a guard of this country’s security. He is primarily a guard of his own security, as his behavior in recent years has shown. “There is no right and wrong for Trump. There’s winning and losing. And that’s very different from right and wrong,” explains Tony Schwartz, cowriter of “The Art of the Deal,” in an interview with CNN. Trump has gotten around the punishment he deserves under the laws of his own country rather than looking out for the security of the country.

“… that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

During Trump’s time in office, Columbia Human Rights Law Review created a laundry list of human rights revoked by the Trump administration. In following through with these acts, he did something distinctly un-American. Our nation was designed as a place free of such rule, where unalienable rights would not be stifled and would be given a place of priority. Donald Trump does not appear to believe in such things.

In an article by the New York Times, authors Jose A. Del Real and Zolan Kanno-Youngs outline how, during Trump’s administration, the U.S. tracked and impeded journalists, attorneys and activists working at the border, undermining the rights outlined in the First Amendment.

“The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.”

More recently, conservatives have unveiled Project 2025, an initiative intended to be implemented by a Republican president. Trump may not be directly involved in this per se, but many people close to him, including six of his former cabinet secretaries, helped write the documentation.

While there may be more unfounded rumors about Project 2025 than anything else in the election, one true thing about it is that it would bring about a more centralized government. A section entitled “Debunking the Lies” on the Project 2025 website states that they are aligned with the Constitution because “bringing the administrative state more firmly under the control of the president, whose authority traces directly from the Constitution, could not be further from terminating this quintessential founding document.”

However, what this fails to consider — and how it does go against our nation’s founding documents — is that America was founded to get away from that kind of centralized government, a monarchy. While it is true that the president gains power from the Constitution, he does not gain ultimate authority. This country was founded on a belief in federalism, which is contrary to both Trump’s and Project 2025’s grab for more power.

America will not be made great with Trump; it won’t even be led by American values.

Mercedes Dubblery is a senior communication and English major from Columbia, South Carolina. Mercedes can be reached at [email protected].