With all the feelings that this country has had in the past week, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit scared to write this. I - and a good chunk of America - did not think Donald Trump would actually win the presidency. I voted in my first election for a woman who I genuinely thought would make history. And I was disappointed when I found out that she wouldn't, because we have no way of knowing when a woman like her will come along again. I didn't vote for Hillary because she's a woman, I voted for her because I really think that she is one of the most qualified candidates that this country has had in years. I think the exact opposite of Donald Trump. To me, a man with rhetoric as backward-thinking as his does not have the ability to move this country forward. But - despite all odds- he won. And our nation has been doing a lot of thinking.
I've never been a political person. Political discussions are usually the only thing that I'll actively try to keep myself out of, for the sake of my own sanity. But this election is different, and I think a good portion of people out there will agree with me. Hillary Clinton reflected some of the bad parts of our government, and Donald Trump reflects all the bad parts of our people. It was just a matter of who would come out on top. It's like having to choose between Voldemort and Dolores Umbridge. Neither are that good, but one is significantly better than the other. For all we know, Trump's hateful rhetoric could have just been a way to court voters. And I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. His entire campaign just consisted of him talking out his ass. I'm just sitting here trying to justify his behavior, but you have to hand it to him, he had to have done something right.
I think the most glaring reason that Trump won was that he appealed to the silent majority. He gave a voice to the people who never had a voice in politics before. The only catch is that they're the people you don't want to have a voice in politics to begin with. I'm not saying that these are all Trump supporters. I really do believe that what makes this country so great is the uniqueness of the people who live in it, but I also believe there's a line. Trump has been associated with the KKK, and also misogynists enraged by the fact that a woman has made it as far as Hillary did. These people never came out in elections before, because they never really had a candidate to get behind. Trump gave them that voice. Now, I think all we can do is hope that he's not actually a racist and - now that he won his voters - he'll replace all his hate speech with talk of actual politics.
Trump doesn't scare me anymore. It's the people that support him that worry me more. This man is just a face. Hell, he's a God to some of the people that support him. When Hitler was in power, all he had to do was put the message out there, and the people of his country did the rest. I want to make it clear, I'm not saying Donald Trump is Hitler. They have their similarities, but that doesn't mean they're the same. But I think in this case, the same idea applies. All he had to do was put the idea in people's heads, and they go from there. It's not right that certain groups of people now fear for their safety because this man got elected. As a woman, I have to be honest, I am a little fearful. But I won't deal with him every day, I'll deal with the people who take his word as sacred and believe that his treatment of women is okay.
If this were any other election with any other candidates, I would be acting exactly like the person that I don't want to be. Like I said, I'm not normally political. And since I usually try to refrain from having political opinions, I try my best not to judge people for having them. Yes, die-hard Trump supporters have every right to their opinions, and I'm not trying to say that they don't. Have whatever opinion you want. But in Trump's case, I can't help but judge you a little bit for it. I question how a person could trust a man who's been that openly bigoted; that's just not what a president should be. This country has built itself on progression and innovation. Trump's vice president believes in gay conversion therapy. Those ideas really don't fit together.
Right now, I'm not disappointed that Trump won. I'm disappointed that this country has gotten to a point where we've let a man like this get elected to begin with. If we're not careful, we really may set ourselves back socially by so many years. But honestly, I really don't think that we'll be set back into the metaphorical Dark Ages like some people seem to think. In no way do I think that the next 4 years will be the best this country has ever had, but I don't think they'll be the worst either. Just think, now it's Trump's job to schmooze all the people that he managed to piss off during his campaign. He's going into the presidency with the Republican majority, but most Republican's don't even like him.
I don't think people give this country the credit that it deserves. Certain Trump supporters are hateful, backward-thinking people. But humans also have this intrinsic capacity to be unwaveringly kind. For every hate crime out there, there are a dozen acts of love out there to combat it. Two negatives will create a positive. This man is a bigoted, misogynistic, homophobic, narcissistic, xenophobe with a cheap hairpiece and a bad attitude. But this country has seen worse men than the likes of him. We've been through much worse and came out much better. We will be okay.
