Unless you have been living under a rock and avoiding all forms of social media today, you know that Donald Trump has been elected to the position of the next President of the United States. Once it was called that Donald Trump would win Florida and the 29 electoral votes that the state offered by a significant margin, it became clear that traditionally blue battleground states would be favoring red, and ultimately give Trump enough votes to reach and surpass the coveted 270.

With this win, I have seen beyond an abundance of dismay and outright grief on the Left in addition to profuse outright disrespect, hatred, and finger-pointing toward those who voted for Trump or decided to vote third party. To this I must say: YOU ARE WRONG. Being a supporter of Trump does; in fact, NOT make you racist, homophobic, xenophobic, or (insert your choice of socially unacceptable phobia here). Voting third party does not mean you wasted your vote, or “gave” Trump the win. By promoting these ideas all you are doing is further dividing an already heavily divided country. I think Hillary Clinton put it best when she said we are “Stronger Together.” Blaming your fellow Americans for the outcome of the election will quite literally accomplish nothing. Donald Trump will still be president. Hillary Clinton still will not. Regardless of who someone supported in the election, they should not be demeaned because of their political beliefs; this degrades the sanctity of democracy and of free political thought, the foundations of our country. I am all one for the discussion of political ideas, as this enriches the knowledge of both sides in regards to their understanding of the political process, but at disrespect I draw the line.

Now with this being said, before I get into my main points, I must concede to a few things. The early Donald Trump rhetoric was rather radical Right leaning and at times borderline racist, and as a result, he does have support from those with racist ideals. Additionally, the “grab her by the p*ssy” tape that was released was disgusting. There is no other word for it. It promoted the ideals of rape culture that are already prevalent in our society, and as a woman, I find that appalling. Being a moderate that tends to lean conservative, in addition to a registered Republican, it was these comments that led me to stray from my identified party and vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson. Having two candidates that were so immensely disliked by those identifying on both sides of the spectrum, I had hopes, however slim, that this may just be the election in which a third party candidate could pull in enough electoral votes to bring the election to the Republican House of Representatives. Former Republican Governor Gary Johnson stood a chance in this instance. But alas, this clearly did not happen.

First, I would like to address some of the attacks on Donald Trump in regards of the accusations of him being racist and anti-LGBT.

• In regards to Muslims: Temporarily stopping the immigration of Muslims until we can figure out how to properly vet these individuals to prevent terrorists from entering our borders is not Islamophobia. Unfortunately, terror organizations do operate and identify as practitioners of Islam. It is a shame that a peaceful religion has been demonized as a result of those who twist the Quran’s doctrine to fit their own violent wants, but he is not condemning this entire religion. He is condemning those who are “radical Islamic terrorists,” who in reality, are not true practitioners of Islam at all.
  
  
• In regards to “The Wall”: This was a terrible way to frame the issue of Illegal Immigration and I continue to shake my head at this. No, we are not actually going to build a wall. No, Mexico is not going to pay for this imaginary wall. What is going to happen is that border security will be increased in order to make the illegal crossing of the border more difficult. In the terms of deportations, those who are already in the U.S. illegally will probably not be any more likely to be deported than they are under the current Obama administration. So provided that they don’t get arrested or reported, life will likely go on unchanged. Most importantly, there is a quote from Trump that has been wildly taken out of context by the media (and I promise I will try to keep my opinions of the blatantly, and mostly overbearingly, liberally biased media in check, but no promises¯\_(ツ)_/¯), We have all seen it. The one where he supposedly calls all Mexicans rapists and drug dealers? This isn’t what he is saying in the slightest. What he is saying is that a portion of those crossing the borders are in fact committing sexual assault or contributing to the drug trade. Is this untrue? No, it is not. But is he calling every individual who crossed the border, including those who simply want to gain from the economic opportunities the US offers, a rapist/drug dealer? A RESOUNDING no.
  
  
• In regards to Anti-LGBT: The fundamental principal governing the Republican Party is that of the national government having limited power in order to protect the right of the individual and of the state governments. Keeping this in mind, this principle is protected by the tenth amendment, which states “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Now what I am about to say is more conjecture than anything, but I believe it still has merit. Traditionally, the Republican Party has been anti-gay marriage because of Christian beliefs instead of the idea of protecting states’ rights to governing their own residents. As someone raised in the Christian church, it is obvious that Trump is not a Christian; therefore, I think we can dismantle the idea that Trump is against the decision of Obergefell v. Hodges in order to “protect that sanctity of marriage.” Trump wants this decision abolished because the issue of gay marriage to be decided state by state, as the constitutional support for the regulation of this federally is a stretch at best. Now, something to also notice is that within interviews, Trump has never come out as being against gay marriage, only against the federal government choosing to regulate it. At the same time, he has never come out as a proponent for it either. Why? I believe it is because he would lose a large portion of his Christian Republican backing if he discussed his support of state-allowance of gay marriage. If he was truly against gay marriage, he would blatantly say so, as he would have nothing to lose for doing it.

Secondly, to those of you who decided to point blame at those who voted third party, a vote likely aligned with their conscience, for the loss of the Democratic nominee and election of Donald Trump: Shame on you and check your facts. There is really no such thing as a pure moderate or Independent in terms of political beliefs, just as there is no such thing as a pure Republican or Democrat. A portion of those who vote third party tend to lean either left or right. With this being said, I have seen a lot of those who voted third party being blamed for the outcome of the election, which is beyond unfair and quite honestly a conclusion not even based in reality. Let’s look at Florida for an example:

• According to CNN reports the election numbers are as follows:
  Trump- 4,605,515
  Clinton- 4,485,745
  Johnson- 206,007
  Stein- 64,019
• Let’s imagine, for arguments sake, that the third party candidates did not exist and re-distribute their votes. Approximately 40% percent of independents tend to lean right and 60% lean left, so let’s assume those leaning Republican vote Trump and those leaning Democrat vote Clinton. This leaves the major party candidates with the following numbers:
  Trump- 4,713,526
  Clinton- 4,647,760
• TRUMP STILL TAKES FLORIDA.

Let’s be open and honest here. Few were entirely happy with the candidates that received the nomination from their respective parties. Trump is unpolished, to put it lightly, and lacks political experience, and Clinton has years of experience that is cluttered with corruption and downright questionable actions. In a perfect world, we would have had different people stepping to the plate to represent the elephant and the donkey (Shoutout to @MarcoRubio, we were rooting for you, we were all rooting for you). But if the Liberal Left is really looking for someone to blame, it isn’t third party voters, or even Trump supporters for that matter—it is the DNC. Early on it was clear that DNC favored Clinton for the nomination over Bernie Sanders , resulting in some less than fair primaries that stole her a spot on the ticket and robbed Bernie of his. Like Trump was able to bring out masses and new demographics to the polls, effectively redrawing the electoral map, Senator Sanders would have done the same, and quite possibly turned the tide of the election for a Democratic win.

As one of my friends on Facebook, who is apolitical, posted in his status this morning, “Welcome to America, where everyone is allowed to have an opinion, unless it is voiced.” Be nice, be considerate, not everyone is a terrible person, and understanding this fact will likely get you very far in life. When watching Clinton’s concession speech this morning, she highlighted the constitutional ideal of a peaceful transition of power. Even though we may not like the outcome of the election, it is our job to respect it and the position of President of the United States; doing otherwise degrades not only the position, but all of the Presidents that have come before Trump. Choosing to see the best in people is not something that is difficult to do. I’m choosing to see the best in Donald Trump for the sake of our country, as should you. Here is to hoping Donald J Trump truly has what it takes to fulfill his promise of Making America Great Again, because if the hatred I have seen on social media is any indication, we most definitely need it.

That is all.

Chandler Out.