If you voted for Donald Trump on November 7th, I am not going to say that you’re a racist, a misogynist, a homophobe, or a xenophobe. I understand that many are dissatisfied with the current politics of the United States, and I will give Trump credit in that he is the opposite of the status quo. Essentially, I understand why one would vote for Trump other than his rhetoric thus far, but I also know that many voted for him because they identify with his hateful ideologies.

The only true winners on Election Night were hatred and bigotry. Trump is one man; regardless of whether he has power or not, he is not the issue at hand. The most frightening part of this election is the vast amount of people who stand by Trump’s offensive and oftentimes oppressive convictions and the unprecedented violence these convictions have incited.

Trump won because the masses fear immigration, although their ancestors immigrated at one point themselves.

Trump won because a plethora of men believe that the right to a woman’s body is not that of the woman herself, but that of the government.

Trump won because people in this country are so fearful of a love that is non-traditional that they would rather resort to hate.

Trump won because there are men in this country who find talk of assaulting a married woman entertaining.

Trump won because some are so uneducated that they truly believe man-made climate change is a hoax, and that little to nothing should be done to protect our environment for future generations.

Trump won because there are citizens of this country who genuinely believe that the Islamic faith is built upon terrorism.

Trump won because people tend to down-play the tragedy of rape, even when the next President of the United States has been accused of this crime by a thirteen-year-old girl.

So, yes, Trump won the election, but nobody truly won anything on Election Night.

In order to move forward as a nation, we would first have to approach the issue of so many people being filled with so much hatred, and that is not something the American public has had to deal with in a while.

While you may have voted for Trump simply because you long for change (and I respect that whole-heartedly), many others voted out of sheer ignorance. The progress the United States has made is terribly threatened by this man, and the only consolation in this is knowing that the American government is a democracy.

As President Obama recently said in regards to this unconventional election, “No matter what happens, the sun will rise in the morning.” I have never been worried that it won’t, but how will we deal with the issues when it does?