What happens once the 2016 presidential election is over? Presumably we will have a new president, and the focus will shift to the potential policies of the next four years. But what's going to fill the void that will be created by the end of media coverage of the election? What are we going to talk about, if not Trump and Clinton? To a certain extent we will probably still be talking about them, at least for a while. There's the question of whether or not Trump will accept a Clinton presidency, and of course if Trump wins we will surely be discussing that for the foreseeable future. Still, what happens if Clinton wins--which the current polls show as a likely outcome. Do we all go back to normal? Is that even possible anymore?
We have grown accustomed to all of our headlines being about this election, and in the most grotesque way possible. From Clinton's emails to Trump's sexual assault allegations, we've been living inside a tabloid for the past eighteen months. With November 8th on the horizon, the question becomes what do we turn to once the presidential election is over. Are we capable of going back to politics as normal, reporting on policies rather than personas? Or has this been the beginning of a permanent shift in the American psyche, the dawn of a new era of both increased political participation and growing distrust. In a way that's what has lead to the success of the Trump candidacy. He has campaigned as being the anti-establishment candidate, something that has resonated with millions of Americans. I am not sure if those Americans will be willing to go back to the status quo if Clinton becomes president.
It's not just the Trump supporters that might resist the return to life as we once knew it. Democrats saw a large split this election cycle between Bernie Sanders supporters and Hillary Clinton supporters. That rift has yet to fully heal, and if former Sanders supporters feel that Clinton is not being progressive enough, they may also begin to push back.
Where does this leave us? If there's one thing that's certain, it's that nothing is certain. This election has defied logic, predictions, and at times even common sense. Looking at the future of the country beyond November 8th is like looking into a crystal ball, murky and uncertain. Perhaps we will witness a shift back to the pre-2016 election America that now seems like a distant past. Or perhaps we will see yet another shift, towards a more divided America. The real test will be in how we as the American people respond, and if this election cycle can teach us anything, it's that we better work on that, because this response--which has produced Trump-- has been less than stellar.
