November 8th, 2016 marks a day that everything I thought I knew about this country got flipped on its head.
It was the day that Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president. It was not the outcome most of us expected, much less the outcome we wanted. All signs pointed to Hillary Clinton being the 45th president and the first female president this country had ever seen.
When that was not the case, it is nearly impossible to describe the panic and horror I felt. My friends and I stayed up until 4 AM, hoping that the electoral map would change. When it didn’t, and when they called it as Trump, I fell to my knees. I wailed. I hadn’t cried that hard since my beloved grandfather died three years before. I didn’t know I could cry like that. A year later, where are we now?
Worse off than we could have ever imagined.
As a political science major, and as someone who is very politically engaged, I have spent much of the last year just shaking my head and calling my senators. I frown just about every time I receive a news update about this administration, because just when I think things can’t get any worse, they go even deeper down the drain.
Thanks to this administration, the bigoted, racist side of this country has reared its ugly head. When you have a president who says that there are “fine people on both sides” of a literal neonazi march where one of the neonazis ran a vehicle through the crowd of counter protesters and killed one named Heather Heyer, there’s a problem.
When you have a president whose sole purpose is to erase the legacy of the last president because he was black, there’s a problem. When you have a president who wants to keep people out with walls and travel bans, there’s a problem. When you have a president who thinks NFL players should be fired for exercising their first amendment rights, there’s a problem.
Collegiettes, we need to pay attention. We need to vote. We need to understand how dangerous this man and his administration are. 2020 seems a long time away, but we need to stick together and not allow another era like this in. It hasn’t even been a year and this country is in shambles. We have the power to do what Trump can’t, and that is to make America great. Do your part. Stay informed. It’s on us. We can do it!