Well, we elected Donald Trump. Whether or not you supported him, I think we can all agree that this was a weird one. On the one hand, we had a semi-qualified politician and former Secretary of State who was under investigation earlier this year for possibly jeopardizing national security. On the other hand, we had a belligerent, right-wing business tycoon with absolutely no political experience and no regard for political correctness. He denounced ISIS and illegal immigration and made it his mission to build a giant wall across the border (at Mexico’s expense) and place a temporary ban on Muslim immigration. He didn’t care what he was allowed to say on TV; he just blurted out whatever he felt like saying while his fans cheered and his haters fumed with anger. And at the end of the day, his flippant approach to American politics paid off.

The Donald Trump election wasn’t a pretty one. An alarming surge in hate speech and hate crimes started permeating through many college campuses across the U.S. A student at San Diego State University was targeted by two men for wearing a hijab and was abruptly robbed. Graffiti depicting white supremacist views and pro-Trump mantras has also been widely reported, and a small group of Michigan middle school students began chanting “build the wall” last Thursday. Meanwhile, riots have broken out in New York, Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver and Oakland. Thousands of people claiming that Trump would not be their president stormed out onto the streets to peacefully protest. Unfortunately, anger got the best of some of the demonstrators, who proceeded to smash shop and car windows and destroy property in Portland and Oakland. There is also a viral video of a group of black people viciously attacking a white Trump supporter.

If Donald Trump’s election made one thing clear to me, it’s how incredibly ignorant this country is as a unit. And I’m not just talking about Trump supporters; Hillary and anti-Trump activists are equally, if not more, to blame for all of this resulting chaos. This country has been divided for decades, and ever since Donald Trump announced his candidacy, things have only gotten worse. Both sides think that they are the good guys and the other ones are “what’s wrong with this country.” I’m definitely guilty of sharing those thoughts, but after this election, I see the error in my ways. Yes, Donald Trump is now our president. You can either gracefully accept it, or you can take to the streets and cry about how “he’s not your president”. Fun fact: Donald Trump is your president. I don’t like it either, but this is something that we’re going to have to deal with as mature adults. We, not “they”, put the power in his hands, and now that he has the power, we have to support him. Whether you think Donald Trump is capable or not, he is now our champion. He is going to be the voice for change in this nation, and hopefully that change will be for the better.