At around 8:00 p.m. on January 19, just hours before Donald Trump would take the oath of office and become president, I was having dinner at a Washington, D.C. restaurant a few blocks from Capitol Hill. A group of friends and I had taken the trip to see the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States. We were enjoying ourselves, reminiscing about the fun day we'd had in the city, and making each other more excited for the historic moment we'd be witnessing the next day. Toward the end of the meal, one of my friends was checking social media and found that there was an anti-Trump protest happening in the city, which was just about a ten-minute walk away from where we were. While we are Republicans and have no interest in protesting, we wanted to see the protest unfold. So, like the action-thirsty youths we are, we paid our bills and left the restaurant for the protest.

The protest was being held by a left-wing group called Antifa, which is short for "Anti-Fascism."

The group had gathered outside of a large building where a pro-Trump ball, sarcastically-named the "DeploraBall", was underway. When we arrived, we saw a large mob of people holding signs and chanting angry phrases while being blocked from the venue by a wall of about 20-30 policemen and policewomen who stood, stoic and expressionless, as the swarm of protesters screamed furiously at the building. One of the first notable visuals we would remember seeing was a duo of protesters in green, Nazi-era trench coats and cardboard cut-out masks of Hitler and Mussolini. Their arms were stretched out in Nazi salutes, and they held signs reading, "Trump is alt-right with us!" It then occurred to me that some people were choosing to protest a perceived hatred by dressing up as Nazis.

There were several small protest groups on the outskirts, who were advertising themselves by giving away free signs and stickers that proclaimed that the person holding it or wearing it was against the "fascism" of the Republican Party. I took a few stickers to keep as mementos and then dove deeper into the crowd. I stood next to a white man wearing a baseball cap who looked like he was in his forties. He was holding up his own homemade sign as high as his arms could stretch. I observed his mannerisms like a scientist observing a lab monkey. This man was staring at the entrance of the building, his eyes gouging so far out of his face that they could have fallen right out. The veins in his neck were enormous, pulsating almost a full centimeter from the surface of his skin. He screamed in one of the most furious voices I've ever heard, "YOU F*CKING NAZI PIECES OF SH*T!" As he continued to express his bloodcurdling anger toward the building, I thought to myself that it might be time to get away from him before something bad happens.

Fights broke out.

Every now and then, an innocent (yes, innocent) Trump supporter would make his way into the crowd wearing his red "Make America Great Again" hat like a target at a shooting range. He felt the need and obligation to throw himself into the black hole of signs that referred to his beliefs as those of Nazis and white supremacists in order to defend his values. But that was a huge mistake. Scuffles inevitably happened, starting when an unknown culprit would rip the hat off of the Trump supporter's head from behind him. The Trump supporter would retaliate, turning around and trying to get the hat back, and that is when the fights would start. This happened numerous times.

Fires were started. Many protesters wanted to show just how "burning" their fury toward white America was, so they threw their signs into the middle of the street and set them on fire to create a large bonfire that symbolized their hatred that wore a thin veil of "love." A ten-foot tall inflatable elephant was erected in the middle of a crowd, which read "RACIST" in big, bold black letters on its side in order to symbolize the crowd's feelings toward the Republican Party.

Booming chants of "F*CK THE POLICE" filled the air.

The chants arose practically anytime somebody tried to attack another person, causing the police to intervene and, most times, spray mace or something similar. The police could do nothing but take the hate they recieved in return, as their job titles do not override the public's freedom of speech. The worst I saw the crowd's anger was when a reveler would exit the ball. I would instantly know each time this happened, as the crowd grew ten times louder with its chants of "SHAME" and "F*CK YOU." At one point I saw a little boy, who couldn't have been more than eleven years old, standing in the middle of it all, taking it all in. The DeploraBall attendees, dressed to impress in their tuxedos and black dresses, were shocked when the crowd threw trash and eggs at them as they exited the ball. Occasionally, some of the protesters would follow them down the sidewalk, throwing more trash at them and screaming hateful things.

I stood back and watched it all, in absolute, 100% disbelief of what I was witnessing. I knew that protests were common and I'd seen a few in person, but this was something different. This was not a protest. It was a gathering of hate. In fact, I'd go on to say later that night to a friend of mine, "Never in my life have I seen such pure, vicious, unconditional hatred." There was no reasoning with these people. I knew that if I, a moderate Republican who has had very rocky feelings toward Donald Trump during his campaign, ever wanted to sit down and have an honest discussion with them there would still be no common ground. They were a new level of insanity.

They were like rabid animals.

The most disturbing visual I remember from that night was that of a ball attendee who was obviously aware of what was going on outside, terrified and unsure what of what to do. He knew that he was public enemy number one. He knew that, if he was going to make it out without a scratch, he'd have to make a break for it. So he opened the door and began sprinting down the sidewalk, away from the protesters. I'd never seen such fear; I was able to project myself into every motion this man was making because he was acting in such vividly-real fear for his life. One might see an actor in a movie pretending to be scared, but seeing it in person is different. It is raw, uncut, primal fear that I was able to see myself in as I watched this man run for his life.

Then, something unbelievable happened: the mob ran after him. As this man made a desperate dash down the sidewalk, voices erupted from the crowd, announcing, "He's making a run for it! Get him!" Immediately about three-quarters of the crowd starting chasing the man. I couldn't imagine what his emotions were in that moment. I cannot fathom how scared he must have been. It's awful to even think about. Shortly afterward, the crowd was tear-gassed, so we covered our faces and got out of there.

Later that night, we saw in the news that one Trump supporter, James Allsup, who had somehow made his way into the protest, had been hit in the back of the head with a flagpole. He was bleeding while at the protest and was later hospitalized. A picture of him on the Internet showed him sitting uncomfortably on a sidewalk, showing the camera his hand that was so red with the blood from his head that you could barely see his skin through it. We were lucky to have not been there for that. However, we were still left with a book's worth of haunting visuals that serve as a snapshot of where our country is at right now. I call this the most terrifying night of my life not because I was scared for my own safety. I call it this not because the people I was surrounded by had the psyches of murderous animals.

I call it the most terrifying night of my life because it showed me in raw, gritty detail what we have become.

It showed me where our division had taken us. For so long, Republicans have been looked at as the bad guys; the racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ageist, greedy, ableist, bad guys. And, sadly, there is nothing we can do about it, so we just accept it. But this was different. It was as if the relationship between the Republicans and Democrats had evolved into something much more sinister. The Republicans, now, are seen as Nazis and white supremacists. The Democrats take it upon themselves, like it is their moral duty and obligation, to attack Republicans at every turn. This is unbelievably dangerous territory for a society. What is next? Literal fights to the death out in the street?

I couldn't help but get angry myself at this division. I had so many questions bouncing around in my head. Who caused it? Was it Donald Trump? No, but he certainly made it thicker. To be honest, I'm very uncomfortable with, and perhaps scared of, a lot of Trump's ideas. I feel uneasy with him as president. But, I'm not blaming him for the divide.

Donald Trump did not divide America. His presidency was the ugly result of an already-divided America.

It all started in 2008, when we elected our first black president. This was great in our fight for civil rights, but it was perverted by the Democratic Party and the media into a political tactic. Everything became about race, and suddenly, Republicans were racists. The divide was made even thicker when Obama showed his true colors as the most liberal, and therefore, partisan, president in recent history. We saw the consequences in the creation of the Tea Party as soon as a few years after his election. First, it was the Tea Party. Then came Donald Trump. It's like a Newton's Law of Physics. Far-left actions cause equal but opposite far-right reactions. Of course, the equally-partisan doctrine held true, as Bernie Sanders, arguably the most liberal candidate to ever be on an American presidential debate stage, took the country by storm. The snowball keeps rolling down the hill, getting bigger with every turn.

Then, the shooting of Trayvon Martin happened. Republicans, sick of being called racists, saw George Zimmerman as a man who was threatened by a murderous teenager and defended himself. Democrats, on the other hand saw a guilty, evil, racist pig in George Zimmerman. After he was found not guilty, President Obama opened his mouth in criticism, and the divide grew. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party was busy recycling the "Republicans are racist" narrative and replacing "racist" with "sexist," "transphobic," "homophobic," yada yada yada.

Political correctness sits on a throne like Joffrey Baratheon and calls itself "social justice" and "love."

Finally, the media. There is nothing more divisive than the current state of the mainstream media. I won't even talk about how the media gives Republicans all these terrible labels. No, I'll talk about television shows like "Saturday Night Live", "The Daily Show" with Trevor Noah, "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert", "Late Night with Seth Meyers", and "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee". These are television programs that are meant to be comedies that allow people to kick back, laugh, and escape the world for an hour or so. They've always delved into political satire and made fun of Republicans much more than Democrats, but this election season brought with it a harsher tone. These shows have become escape routes for Democrats to become brainwashed with an increasing hatred for the Republican Party, so they feel smart and above the GOP while tuning in.

Every night, Stephen Colbert opens his show with criticisms of or insults at Donald Trump and the rest of the Republican Party, making it very clear how much he resents them. Every day, Trevor Noah does whatever he can to turn the GOP into a joke. The entire point of Samantha Bee's show is to demonize Republicans. When Donald Trump won the election, Kate McKinnon, dressed as Hillary Clinton, opened "Saturday Night Live" with a beautiful, yet depressing rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". She concluded by turning to the camera and declaring "I'm not giving up, and neither should you." She acted as if a great tragedy, like 9/11, had just struck the nation. They say it was to honor the late Leonard Cohen, but any rational human being knows that that is far from the truth. To Democrats, this was beautiful. To Republicans, the reaction was, predictably, more along the lines of, "Oh, stop it."

Whenever these late night shows host a Democratic politician or news anchor, they are glorified and seen as the one true hope of America. They are showered with applause after every sentence that leaves their mouth. Even when they trash Republicans beloved by their respective party, the crowd rewards them with a warm applause. However, whenever they host Republicans, the host does whatever he or she can to condescend and humiliate the Republican. Seth Meyers just did it with Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. Stephen Colbert did it with Trump himself in late 2015. Trevor Noah did with controversial Blaze anchor Tomi Lahren.

All this accomplishes is making the Democrats hate Republicans more, and making Republicans hate Democrats more.

It doesn't seem to help when people use their power to blatantly tell their viewers to go protest out in the street. But, they continue to do it anyway. It scares me. Why? Because I've now seen what those protests can result in. Pure, vicious, unconditional hate can often be the result. If it isn't violent, it consists of Madonna joking in front of a crowd about how she's thought about blowing up the White House. This hatred is not seen as deplorable, yet I see it as much more deplorable than the "hate" of the Republican Party. This is much worse. Yet, it is encouraged by the people we should trust the most: our government, our news, and our entertainers.

However, because of them, I can now say that I have seen real hate. Real, naked hate.