Just like millions of other Americans across the country, I watched the presidential election last night, hoping and praying that the next president-elect would be the one I personally felt could do our county the most good and give my generation the best future. Unlike half of the country, I was ecstatic when the votes were finalized and Donald J. Trump had won the Electoral College, winning him the election. My own personal reasoning for supporting Trump has nothing to do with the recent scandals surrounding him, but have to do with my own political beliefs and the platforms that Trump was running on. Yes, Trump speaks his mind (exercising his first amendment right as an American). Yes, he has his own beliefs that he voices. Yes, some of his beliefs are stuck in the 1950s (because those were the times he was raised in), but I wasn’t voting for a candidate based on their character (in case you forgot about the major scandals surrounding Hillary Clinton like the emails, Benghazi, the rape case she defended, etc.). I voted for the person that’s policies and ideals matched most with my own and whom I didn’t think would completely destroy our country. I voted for the person that was “loud and obnoxious” over the person that was “secretive and hid things” because I would rather be governed by a president who’s plans I know rather than the quiet one who likes to hide things and stab you in the back. I’m not writing this to tell you why I reasoned my vote, but rather to tell you not to be afraid of the future. I mean, you can do what you want and you can have whatever feelings you have, but all I’m saying is that if you just open up your mind and try to give Trump a chance, you may be surprised. I have my own reasons for not being afraid and for doing what I did and why I believe what I do, and I hope that telling you this will help lessen your fear and help bring our country to unity as that is what we need most.
As a woman, I feel empowered and safe. Last night, our country elected an incredible businessman to run our county and help fix what is broken. We elected a man that has more success than I can ever imagine attaining in my own lifetime. We elected a man who has the experience and knowledge to work the system and fix our economy because, after all, a country is basically just one large business. We elected a man that makes me feel empowered as a woman because of the women he has in his life and because of the opportunities that will arise with him in office at the time that I will be working on my future and my career path. His daughter, Ivanka Trump, is an incredibly successful and motivational woman that I aspire to be like. Unlike Hillary who isn’t someone women should look up to because of all of the scandals she’s been involved in (such as paying off the women who accused her husband of sexual harassment). With him in office, I feel safer as he was never a politician. He hasn’t spent his entire career working the political system and just being a politician. As a woman, I feel as though the good that Trump has done and will do, outweigh the bad that he has said, such as his sexist comments that he made years ago when he was merely a celebrity hanging out with a buddy, unaware that he was being recorded. Trumps goal to unify our nation makes me feel safer because nothing tears we the people apart more than calling out different races, genders, identifiers, etc. to try and riot or protest, instead of peacefully working together to build a more perfect union.
As a person that believes wholeheartedly in equality, I feel the same. Trump going into office does not keep me for believing and fighting for equality among all races and genders. He may have his own beliefs, but there is a system of checks and balances within the government to make sure that our individual rights are protected and to make sure that we are not discriminated against based on the color of our skin, or the gender we were born with or identify as. And the assumption that Trump supports the KKK just because he is endorsed by them is an unfair assumption about someone who hasn’t spoken one way or the other on the matter. But, generalizing all Trump supporters as white supremacists that believe they are the superior race and are too “privileged” to see the effect on the other side, does absolutely nothing to help solve the problems our country faces or to gain equality among all races. When has rioting, judging, stereotyping, shaming, etc. ever made a beneficial change that brought everyone together instead of separating things even farther? If you want to see a change in the world, you cannot attack people and their beliefs. It does not matter who is president because this is something that WE THE PEOPLE have the power over and that WE THE PEOPLE are working against each other and are making an even bigger wedge between races. As a person who believes 110% in equality, it saddens me to see the mess our country is in and blaming Trump for the issues we have on equality is incredibly discerning because we have had these issues since Obama was in office (someone that is of a minority background and has liberal views), the exact opposite of everything Trump is judged for. All the while, America has had inequality issues for well over 100 years so there is no way one president could make it all go away, as Clinton had suggested. So when it comes to equality, don’t be afraid of Trump, be afraid of yourself and all of the Americans around you.
As a Christian, I believe in Gods plan and that he would never lead us into something that would intentionally harm us or our country. Being raised in the church, I was taught to love one another and to not do to others as I would not want done to myself. Calling yourself a Christian who believes in Christian morals and values, but then attacks someone and makes assumptions on someone’s plans or beliefs, is not what God would want from you.
As a millennial, I fear for us. Not because of Trump and how I think he will affect my future, because I honestly believe he will help give me a vastly greater future than the torturous one Clinton would have given me after college and law school, but I fear for us because of the way my generation lets our social beliefs get in the way of our fiscal ones. I fear for us because we millennials have had way more amazing opportunities than previous generations, which have made us lazy, judgmental, and irrational. Mostly I fear for us because we say things like Clinton was the “most qualified presidential candidate in American history”, only because she is a woman and thus completely ignoring the treacherous scandals that have followed her around and the horrible things that she has done. As a millennial that is fiscally conservative and socially liberal, I fear for my generations because of the things we are convinced are right, rather than the things that matter more and will keep our nation from crumbling down. But as a millennial, I have hope and faith for a better future with President-elect Trump, as I fully believe that he can give us everything we want and will set up our generation for an amazing future.
Finally, As an American, several of the problems in America cant be fixed by a president or by Congress, but have to be fixed in the hearts and minds of the citizens. We must remember that we are all Americans first, and if we truly want inequality through racism and sexism to end, we HAVE to work together to make that progress, because no amount of legislation will ever make them truly go away, especially with the amount of hate that we have in this country instead of the unity that we should strive for. As an American, I hope for the future that I know can come about if we all work together towards unity and try to make the best of the situation we have.
I am a Christian woman who believes in equality, was born into the millennial generation, and is above all an American, and I voted for Trump. I truly have so much hope for our future and I believe that we have to be the change we want to see and we cannot do that if we are afraid of what could happen or are too caught up in our own devices to see that we are creating a bigger separation rather than uniting together.
This article is in response to the Her Campus TAMU article, “Don’t Tell Me I Shouldn’t be Scared for America’s Future.”