The first Republican primary I ever voted in was in 2016. I walked into the polling station and checked off Senator Marco Rubio on my ballot. I gave several other Republicans, all of whom I respected, a last minute glance and asked myself how they'd fare against Hillary Clinton in a general election.

My money was on Rubio, the young optimistic Hispanic hybrid of a Republican John F. Kennedy and a 21st Century Ronald Reagan. I thought Florida was the primary where he'd turn around. And I definitely believed his youth, charisma, and his belief that America had purpose would surely defeat Hillary Clinton in a general election in November. Never in a thousand years did I believe the liberal-until-20-minutes-ago billionaire and brash ungraceful populist named Donald Trump would win the nomination, even as far as the late Florida primary.

Unfortunately, my guy lost. Rubio stooped to Trump’s level, went on personal attacks, and lost his positive “shining beacon upon a hill” campaign. Still today when I explain why “my guy lost,” everyone assumes I'm referring to the unflattering Menshevik Bernie Sanders when I would explain my opposition to Trump. Either way, Trump won the nomination.

It didn't matter to me much after he became the Republican nominee how the election went. I figured he'd lose in a landslide to the cautious and PC Hillary Clinton. She was more polished, more savvy, and more experienced. But none of that matters when running against Donald Trump and the primaries proved that. He struck a different cord with the American people, one which I had ignored and blown off as the sound of a progressive populist. But the more I started listening to Trump the more he became my candidate.

First off, let me just say both myself and my family have strong Republican values. A relative traced my family’s history up to when the first Denston arrived in Maryland in 1695. My family became Republicans in 1856 shortly after the GOP was formed and stood as Southern Unionists during the outbreak of the American Civil War. Supporting Trump, who in my mind was the least Republican Republican in the campaign, was a tough choice for me. He was a centrist who had been a Democrat and an Independent before becoming a Republican, thus adding to my apprehension toward supporting him. But then I began listening to his message.

Donald Trump proved to me he was in it for regular people. He didn't crave power, he already had it. He had everything anyone could possibly want. Hillary Clinton on the other hand showed that she craved power, that she felt she deserved it. She coveted the power of the presidency.

While Clinton campaigned for herself, Trump campaigned for blue collar working Americans whom both parties abandoned to court special interest groups in the election. He came from the right offering to make deals and made them with conservatives and regular middle class folks concerned with balancing their budgets and working paycheck to paycheck. More effectively, he courted this lost group of voters by proving to these traditionally Democratic supporters one thing: the establishment failed them just as it had failed all of us, including me. I threw my support behind Donald Trump the night he made that speech during the last night of the Republican National Convention. The

same night he promised all Americans he was running for them.

Soon I realized that Trump was running a populist anti-establishment campaign. And this was what the 2016 election was all about. It wasn't Democrat vs. Republican or liberal vs. conservative. You had the least liberal liberal and the least conservative conservative running against each other. No, it was about something greater.

The Trump Revolution was populism vs. establishmentarianism. It was the people vs. the political machines that both parties and Congress used to coerce us into voting in any one direction. It was real hope and change pitted against the unfulfilled promises and corrupt stagnation of politics’ true special interest group: the political insiders. And in Hillary Clinton we had the essence of establishment: deep pockets, corruption, lies, the desire to say anything to get elected.

Hillary Clinton promised to continue four years of the present political atmosphere created by Barack Obama: a divisive, entitled, and pretentious attitude toward political opposition and the failed reality of the 2008 promise of Hope and Change. This is why she lost. When you refer to American voters who disagree with you as deplorable people you're bound to lose a lot of votes from the electorate you just insulted. The “holier than thou” attitude of Clinton and her establishment colleagues clearly turned off voters. Trump’s stamina, energy, and fearlessness in campaigning in traditionally Democratic states proved his smaller budget campaign more effective than Clinton’s bloated $2 billion campaign. The Democrats felt the sting of defeat on November 8 against an inexperienced loudmouth promising change. That is word for word what Republicans felt on Election Day 2008 and 2012.

Trump's electoral results were far above what anyone had predicted. CNN and Fox New declared New Hampshire for Clinton, but Arizona and Michigan for Trump, though the AP is still waiting for all votes to be counted to add the latter two to his count. Trump was never expected to win Michigan, or Wisconsin, or Pennsylvania. These were Democratic strongholds, places won only by Republicans the likes of Ronald Reagan. Trump's message resonated with the people there, people who had been forgotten by both parties. Clinton and the DNC never expected to lose states that they thought were as assured as California or Massachusetts. That should tell you something. Clinton not only lost the swing states to Trump, but also the states which the Democrats had taken for granted almost condescendingly.

In the end, it proves that it was Trump’s message that has made him the 45th President of the United States. And none of the biased media, campaign rallies, superior cash flow, or negative ads could stop it. The Trump Revolution made history on November 8.

And though he wasn't my first choice, I'm proud to have voted for a president who will work for the people and not the establishment. But the Trump Revolution is just beginning.