The election of President-elect Trump is something that has shocked us all, being termed as the greatest upset in modern political history — even more shocking than when Truman beat Dewey. As the votes were cast and the electoral votes were counted it became evident that the Republicans would win this hard fought battle.
As the final results of Trump's victory were shared with the world early Wednesday morning, the country became even more divided than it already was. Some were crying tears of joy, surprised that the candidate they longed to have in office actually won, celebrating. Others cried out of fear for the future of their country, for their own future because of the policies that President-elect Trump developed his entire campaign around.
The first few days following this election were days of sorrow for myself and my fellow Clinton supporters. Protests took place in many of the major American cities, people already beginning to say that Trump was not their president. Others didn't take much action, keeping to themselves. A good friend of mine, a natural-born, first-generation American, told her grandparents living in India not to come back. A female teacher cried to her colleague, worried her rights would be taken away and saddened that she possibly wouldn't live to see a woman president. LGBT students feared for their lives.
Now this election made history for a number of reasons. It was the first election in which a woman was the candidate for one of the two major political parties. This was also another instance in which the candidate that won the popular vote did not win the required number of electoral college votes to secure their presidency. With current numbers stating that Hillary Clinton had nearly 1.5 million more votes than Donald Trump, citizens are more willing than ever to rid the United States of the electoral college. In 2012 after Romney lost to Obama, he tweeted that the electoral college was a "travesty" and "disaster for democracy;" however, 4 years later he tweeted that this system is "genius."
It's extremely difficult to predict what Trump will prioritize during his administration or even if any of the promises that have drawn in supporters will even be executed. Most recently, he has switched perspectives on his opinions of Hillary Clinton; the same man who intended on putting this "criminal" behind bars, with supporters at rallies chanting "Hillary for Prison" stated his appreciation to Secretary Clinton for her service to our country.
Lately, instead of focusing on the important issues in our nation, the President-elect has turned his attention on Hamilton, the Broadway musical that has taken the world by storm. During a show this past weekend, the cast took time at the end of the show to point out Vice President-elect Pence in the audience and gracefully welcome him and thank him for seeing the show. Brandon Victor Dixon, the actor who portrays Aaron Burr, then told Pence that "[they] are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that [his] new administration will not protect [them]" and that they "truly hope [Hamilton] has inspired [him] to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us." Trump quickly went on Twitter to express his feelings about their speech, saying that the cast "harassed" Pence "cameras blazing" being "very rude," then proceeded to call the musical overrated and demanded an apology for their behavior.
The real question that I have been asking, however, since the election is who will Trump appoint to his cabinet? Few appointments have been made, but the country is still curious as to who else the President-Elect will have a spot for in his administration. His Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, is currently the Chairman of the Republican National Committee and was a major player in Trump's victory. The position of Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor was granted to Stephen Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News, a conservative website that has been scrutinized for conservative and sexist posts, and chairman of the Trump campaign. This appointment has been extremely controversial, since he is considered to be a white supremacist and anti-Semite. Also on the cabinet will be Senator Jeff Sessions, the first senator to endorse Trump, as Attorney General, General Mike Flynn, who was the campaign's top military advisor and a critic of Islam, calling the religion "a cancer," will be the National Security Advisor.
The Trump administration is something that is being looked forward to by some and feared by others. While some of us disagree with everything that has ever come out of his mouth, he will be our president and we as the American people must, for the good of our nation, hope that his term as Commander in Chief will be successful.
