Call me an optimist, call me delusional, or call me so heartbroken my grief isn’t letting me think clearly… but I do not believe that the American elections are over yet. I refuse to believe that Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States without question. No, I have not been hiding under a rock since November 7th. I have been following the poll predictions on a lot of credible news sources. I have watched the votes come in and have felt the anxiety millions of people experienced as the results poured in. I woke up on November 9th to the news that Donald Trump had won over 270 seats in the United States, making him the president elect even though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.
I didn’t want to believe it – I thought I must be havig a nightmare. If I went back to bed, I thought that maybe I could wake up to a different outcome. That didn’t happen. What I did wake up to was terror, disbelief, and a lot of questions. How did America let this happen? What would this do to Canadian politics, economy, and immigration? What has the world become?
In the United States and around the world, people are grieving. This is not just sadness but legitimate grief. Some people are also pretty mad. I am mad at the demographic I associate closest with, white women, for voting in majority with Trump, leaving only women of colour to fight for feminist change. This is a scary reality. There have already been a surge in hate crimes against people of colour and other marginalized communities, as well. Racists have had their opinions validated when they look at Trump’s behaviour and actions. Allies need to spend the next four years committed to doing serious support work and listening to the people who are in serious vulnerable situations. Across America, people are taking to the streets as protest to Trump’s election, as well as creating hashtags like #NotMyPresident, which are currently sweeping the Twitter world.
Now getting back to the beginning of the article, where I mentioned I was still holding out hope that Hillary Clinton would really become the next president of the United States. On December 19th, 2016, state leaders will meet to give their final vote in the Electoral College. We might see a radical change where state leaders vote with the majority and deny Trump the votes. This is incredibly unlikely but not at all impossible. With this large of an outcry across the states, anything is possible. In fact, there actually is a petition going around in hopes of encouraging this outcome on the hopefule day of December 19th. This has been the most unpredictable election in history, but I still have hope. I refuse to stop fighting until December 19th; and until 2020 for that matter. After all, love will always trump hate.
Sources: Cover Photo, 1, 2
Editor’s Note: This article reflects the opinions of the author, and not necessarily those of Her Campus.
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