"It looks like you've emboldened white supremacists around the country with your vote. Would you like to free yourself of responsibility?"

This is, I assume, the message Trump supporters received from Clippy on the morning of November 9th, 2016, given that they still have Microsoft Word '03 installed.

Within one day of Trump's unexpected election, hate crimes erupted across America. While graffiti depicting swastikas and statements such as "Make America White Again" appeared, others were directly attacked, verbally and physically. Muslims have had their hijabs torn off, Hispanics have been told to leave the country before they're deported, African Americans have been assaulted and threatened with lynching. I would give specific examples, but there are literally too many for me to include in this article. According to analysts, more hate crimes have been committed in the wake of the 2016 election than after 9/11.

Even at my own school (a university so liberal that a relative called me a communist for going there), students committed similar crimes. An Asian student found a note in their backpack threatening "your time is up," while another student found a sign depicting a swastika and slurs against African Americans, Hispanics, and queers. Even in these supposed "liberal bubbles," the vicious slime of white supremacy permeates the same.

These attacks, unlike the Trump presidency itself, were expected. While many believed it was impossible for Trump to actually win, many agreed that his victory, however improbable, would inspire white supremacists in American society, resulting in a spike in hate crimes, many citing Brexit as an example of this effect.

These analysts, no matter how wrong about the actual election, were correct. All over America, the same minorities targeted by the rhetoric of the Trump campaign have been harassed, threatened, and attacked.

This is America under the "Law and Order Candidate."

Post-election, much of the ensuing discourse involves talk of "middle America," which many say rejected Clinton out of anger with the status quo and voted for Trump, the outsider candidate guaranteed to shake things up in Washington. Specifically, the "middle America" discussion pertains to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, three states that typically go blue but instead delivered Donald J. Trump his upset victory. Now, as the dawn of the Trump Presidency nears, many debate the intentions of these "middle America" voters who gave him the keys to power. I've seen numerous people label these voters as racist, but that accusation is anything but surprising. After all, these people decided to vote for a candidate who called Mexicans rapists, who promised immigration control based on religion, who is endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan. No, what's really surprising to me are the people who defend these "middle America" Trump voters, thankfully explaining that they only voted for Trump because he was something new, he represented change in a stagnant system, and so on and so forth. But these defenders aren't other Trump supporters, they're one of the most toxic and self-destructive groups in American society: white liberals.

Now, as minorities have their property vandalized and their lives threatened, Trump supporters have desperately attempted to free themselves of the racist label, and liberals have assisted them. Many have rushed to the defense of Trump voters, particularly those in "middle America" who cost Hillary the election, chalking up their support beneath every category imaginable, anything that doesn't touch white supremacy, queerphobia, or misogyny. Now, I understand the reasoning behind some people who voted for Trump. You've been neglected by politicians for too long. On both sides of the aisle, the government has failed to protect you. You want a candidate who doesn't engage in, what Bernie Sanders would call, "politics as usual." You may not like what some of Trump has said, you may even be directly offended by it, but your alternative is Hillary Clinton, the face of "politics as usual." You figured, drawn between two evils, you might as well pick the one that's something new, the one that's guaranteed to piss off those politicians who neglected you for so many elections.

As my friend's grandma put it, "I voted for change. I voted for Trump."

And, for some reason, since this thought process operates without the usage of the words "white power," that means that these Trump voters are freed of their culpability. They're not the ones spraypainting swastikas all over town, they just have similar voting records. They're not members of the Klan, they just went to the same victory party.

As minorities across the country cower in fear from a national "whitelash," these voters can dust their shoulders free of responsibility, because they voted for a racist for a different reason than everyone else.

Sorry, but no refunds.

I don't care why you voted for Trump. Maybe you did it because you're a Confederate-flag-waving Neo-Nazi who truly wants to "Make America White Again." Maybe you're an old-guard Republican that bit your tongue and voted in the name of "party unity." Maybe you're a working class steelworker who lost their job and their pension to a weakening economy. Whatever your reason, I don't care and I don't need to hear it.

If you voted for Trump, you bought into a movement. You've not only endorsed a candidate or a platform, you've endorsed a way of thinking. You've endorsed a worldview that led to the American Civil War. You looked at a candidate who assaulted women and mocked the disabled, and thought, "sure, I can get behind that." You've told every black American that their lives don't matter. You've told every Hispanic person in the world that you see them as security threats, not people. You've told Muslims that their beliefs make them terrorists. You've told queer people that they are mentally disabled and can be electrocuted back to health. You've told women that their bodies are the governments to control. Or grope.

Every time a Trump supporter sees a news report about somebody threatened or assaulted in the name of their candidate, I want them to feel that pain. See the fear in their eyes as a passing car shouts racial slurs and "Trump" in their face. Watch their hands tremble as they try to fill up their car and a stranger tells them to go back to Africa. Look at them hug their children who came home early because the white kids in class said they're going to be deported. See that pain, feel that pain. You did this. Not the KKK, not some strawman deep-south racist, you. Heard your vote matters? Well here it is, broad daylight, mattering. I know it must be hard to face the effect of your vote. It's even harder to face the effect of someone else's.

I'm so sorry that Trump voters feel "shamed" after the election. I'm so sorry people have been mean to you because you voted for a fascist.

But hey, maybe it'll be constructive for you to walk out of the door in the morning and feel threatened. Maybe you'll start to understand.