I woke up this morning and the realization hit home. Last night, hate trumped love and Donald Trump was elected our 45th president. Donald Trump, the misogynistic, seemingly bigoted neophyte will be the Commander-in-Chief. In my opinion, this is not just a sign of media or polling misinformation, but a widespread culture problem. We as Americans flexed our democratic muscles and elected ourselves backwards. It is disturbing that everything I stand for and the viewpoints I am passionate about seem to be the minority viewpoint in this nation. The bubble of privilege I live in has shielded me from the reality of American character. Hyperbole or not, this was a groundbreaking election revealing the heavily underestimated uneducated white voting block, or as Trump calls it, “the silent majority.”
However, I feel as though the path to Donald Trump’s presidency could have been paved by or at least straightened by the left and the media. As a Democrat, I joined the party of labeling vehement Trump supporters as racists, even as “white trash.” This constant labeling of rural uneducated whites by “coastal elites,” along with the era of hyper-political correctness artificially created a vulnerable nation, easily seized by a character like Trump. I genuinely fear for my Muslim friends, my homosexual friends, and even my female friends. I think about my mother, a tenacious, successful strong woman who has fought hard to create circumstances for me to thrive. I think of Trump consistently denigrating strong women like my mother, and how her lupus will only be cured by stem cell research, a field that will dramatically decrease with a potential reversal of Roe v. Wade. Fortunately, Trump’s policies may not directly impact my life as a privileged white Jewish kid at Penn. But I will not stand idly by, I will not give up the fight of progress because I believe I am not alone.
