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Finding Out My Best Friend Is A Trump Supporter Changed How I Think About Politics

I realized that parties don't have to be polarizing in my personal life they are in politics.

plalo288

Apr 28, 2019

Rutgers University

1726

Finding Out My Best Friend Is A Trump Supporter Changed How I Think About Politics

Jerimiah Schultz / Flickr

I never really considered someone else's party affiliation as a deal breaker until I started talking about politics more with my friends. Politics never really came up amongst my friends, but if it did, we all shared the same opinion. People are great at grouping themselves whether or not they realize that. Belonging is a human need, so it makes sense for people to hang out with others that resemble their beliefs. Political parties are used to group those with similar ideas, but each party has different beliefs.

Ever since I started following politics closely, the political views of the people around me became more important to me.

The implications of affiliating with a party had more of a meaning to me. Ever since the 2016 election, I realized I have become more judgmental towards party preference. I don't have any disdain towards Republicans, but I'm very hesitant to hang out with avid Trump supporters. I realize that it sounded shallow, but hanging out with people whose ideals are extremely different from mine made me uncomfortable and I avoided it as much as possible.

One time I realized that party affiliation changed how I viewed a person was when I found out my best friend was a Trump supporter.

Like I said before, I don't talk about politics with my friends on a daily basis, but finding out she was a Trump supporter really shocked me. The shock came from being around like-minded people all the time that when someone disagreed, it was an anomaly. But she's not an extreme "build that wall" type of person, so keeping our friendship wasn't difficult.

From there, I realized that parties don't have to be polarizing in my personal life they are in politics.

Even when we talk about politics, I can understand the other side since it's coming from a friend and not a distant politician. Of course, we disagree from time to time but having people that don't agree with me allowed me to open up my horizons and get different points of view. In the future, political affiliation will still play a role in how I see people, but it will not be the end all be all.

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Finding Out My Best Friend Is A Trump Supporter Changed How I Think About Politics

I realized that parties don't have to be polarizing in my personal life they are in politics.

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No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

"Nobody living in one of the most influential nations in the world should be worried about making ends meet."

What is the current minimum wage at the federal level?

What are the benefits of raising the minimum wage?

What are the states that have set a $15/hour minimum wage?

Told through Parks & Recreation GIFs

Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

1. When you have to provide an "interesting fact" for your first day ice-breaker.

2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

4. When it's 2 AM and you remember you have a test tomorrow.

5. When you finish taking the test and you're pretty sure you failed...

6. ...but then you get the test back and somehow passed.

7. When you've been up for 12 hours straight writing a paper.

8. And then you manage to stay awake in class the next day.

9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

11. And your group-mates are trying to chat about life instead of the assignment.

12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

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