Words cannot describe the sense of discouragement I feel right now. I woke up this morning in hopes that maybe Hillary Clinton won, even if it was by a small margin, but to my dismay, that was not the case. The man from the TV show, The Apprentice, is now the President of the United States. It is so disheartening to see that America has put its trust into the hands of a man like this.
Of course, I logged onto twitter to see the funny tweets about Trump, but I also came across a few serious ones. In 2014, Trump himself tweeted: “Sadly, because president Obama has done such a poor job as president, you won’t see another black president for generations!” Let me point out that the color of one's skin has NOTHING to do with the capabilities they have as a person. Yes, one can look back to the history of America and see that skin color has put unfair restraints on certain people thus making it hard for certain people to achieve certain things. However, I think we can all agree that Obama overcame that and in general, anyone can overcome obstacles by hard work and determination (which are also qualities I would hope for in a president rather than a man who “started out with a small loan of one million dollars”).
Also, if one were to delete the word "sadly" at the beginning of Trump’s tweet it would have a much more cynical tone than it already has. It is easy to conceal the underlying opinions of a person and Trump did just that. He is not sad that Obama’s term is coming to an end. He is not sad that the next president won’t be African American. Let's be real. Trump is a smart man, he knows what he is doing. He knows how to conceal his underlying emotions, and yet sometimes he bluntly states them and no one pays attention.
In 2012, Trump tweeted, “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy." However, Trump only won this election because of the electoral college; if the election was decided solely on the popular vote, Hillary would have won by 1%. Unfortunately, this was not the case and Trump’s numbers were greater. He unexpectedly won many states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Is this due to the fact that he successfully rallied up Republicans under the false hope that he will “make America great again”? Is it due to the fact that many young voters were confused and discouraged leading them not to vote? Did he win because one can see through Hillary Clinton’s botox? Did he win because so many people voted for Harambe?
I am only a freshman in college and do not know the answers to these specific questions. However, I do know this: In my opinion, these two candidates both had their faults. Neither of them was perfect. Many people, like myself, decided who they would vote for on the premise of who was the “lesser of two evils." Hillary is not perfect and I do not think I need to list the negative things she has done. However, she has experience. She has been in the white house. She does not discriminate. She would have made sure everyone in America remained safe. However, Trump wants to build a wall, is already threatening to take away birth control, and much more. The list goes on and on and I do not feel the need to explain all the negative ideas he has.
To the people that voted for Trump, I urge you to ask yourselves not what Trump will do for you, but what will he do for our country? Even Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again” is so convoluted. America has never been “great." Throughout history, America has been progressing. With reforms such as the abolishment of slavery, the Civil Rights Act, women’s suffrage, and so on, one cannot point back to a time and say “America was great at this point." America will always be a work in progress. Now is the time for America to keep progressing and not get bogged down by the plans Trump has and the terrible decisions he will make as president. America, now more than ever, needs to keep progressing. Stereotypically, I am a woman and I am Jewish. But most of all, I am a human being and I am scared. This is not how I wanted my first election to go.
