Roughly a week after the election has come to a close, I still find myself wondering how the country I live in is going to change over the next four years—I'm sure that this state of panic is going to last for the entirety of Trump's time as president. Even though I have been an Obama-supporter, I was never scared had the 2008 or 2012 election turned out differently. However, since Trump announced he would run for president, since he won the GOP nomination and especially since early Wednesday morning, I have only become increasingly scared.

I am scared for the step back this country is taking. Going from the first black president of the United States to a president supported by the KKK says a lot regarding the direction this country is heading. Wrapping up a historic election in which a major political party elected a woman as their candidate for presidency for the first time, makes the Trump victory seem like even more of a slap in the face. With feminism playing a huge role in today's society and all political situations, the fact that a man with zero experience in the field can come in, scream and mock his way through a professional election, and beat a woman who has invested her life in politics shows that America still has a long way to go.

I am scared for the generation who has to grow up with Trump as their president. As younger generations are becoming more involved with social media, they are more exposed to issues within society that they may be too young to comprehend. While it is perfectly fine and rather impressive for children to want to be involved in current matters at an early age, sometimes they may not fully understand what is actually happening, but instead simply follow along with what their parents and those around them are saying, without knowing what it all means.

These children will also be more susceptible to gathering information regarding Trump's statements, decisions, viewpoints, etc. Many children view the president as an authority figure who can do no harm, should be idolized and possesses the power that they all aspire to achieve. With Trump leading his campaign on the basis of insulting those different from him, children may look to this as the kind of persona they should adopt, breeding a generation that is ten steps back in terms of equality.

I am scared for people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, minorities and disabled peoples who have been consistently and forcefully insulted and undermined by a man who is now supposed to be their champion. How is anyone expected to feel safe and defended when their president-elect views them as a group of people who either shouldn't be here or who are responsible for any downfall the country has. Threats of a wall have been smeared across the face of a country that is supposed to offer a safe haven to anyone and everyone. The vice president-elect stands in support of conversion therapy—letting all members of the LGBTQ+ community know that he doesn't support or accept them. Trump's campaign CEO has been reported with making antisemitic remarks, adding to the list of people targeted and affected by Trump's campaign. For the American people to elect a group of men into power who have mocked and degraded so many of their peers paints a picture of the division within this country.

I am scared for those who do not see why this decision is destructive, how this affects them and the impact that this election will have on, not just the country, but the world in 2016. Just because you feel that a Trump presidency will do you no harm because you do not fall into the category of people he has so effortlessly put on the back burner, doesn't mean there aren't millions of others around you fearful of a Trump America. When casting your vote did you not consider the views of others? Did you simply ignore the blatant issues splattered across the election that made so many people feel unequal? While I am fully aware that everyone is entitled to their own vote, representative of their own voice, does it not seem astonishingly selfish to not even care to glance at how so many Americans are feeling?

I am scared for Trump, for possibly not knowing what he has gotten himself into. Trump is the first president to be elected without any prior political or military experience. Yes, I have heard the case of how "we don't need a politician for president because they're too engraved into the political atmosphere." And now here we are, with a man who couldn't gather his thoughts long enough during a debate to professionally articulate his plans for a future under his power without lashing out a string of insults paired with unnecessary interruptions and yelling.

If you needed brain surgery, would you call your travel agent or seek out a neurosurgeon? If your son or daughter needed math tutoring, would you find them a math tutor or let the chef at your favorite restaurant know that they got the job? It now seems remarkably hilarious how many of my friends have been denied jobs solely because they were told that they didn't have enough prior experience to allow them to confidently assume the position.

But I am also scared for myself, as a woman. While as a straight, white American I have not been subjected to many of Trump's comments, as a woman, I have been one of his many targets. For him to classify sexual harassment as "locker room talk" and proclaim that the many women who came forward stating they were victims of his actions were only doing so to become famous, made me feel weak. Because naturally, all women would jump at the availability to have their name in an article and become famous if all they had to do was claim they had been raped or assaulted.

I am scared to live in a Trump world because I will not be viewed as equal to the man sitting next to me. I will instead be viewed as what Trump has led America on to believe all women are: interferences with businesses and objects to be grabbed at and mocked. This is the description our president-elect has set for me, and he has set plenty more descriptions for everyone other than the rich, white man. If you aren't scared to live in a country where your leader can say and do these things with his only repercussion being elected into office, you aren't realizing how serious this is.