This year’s Presidential Election was more about voting against a particular candidate than voting for one’s favorite candidate.
And there are clearly large pockets of voters who seemed paralyzed by an inability to commit to either of the two candidates — both of whom people deemed “dangerous.”
While people didn’t want to vote for Hillary Clinton, they also didn’t want Donald Trump as president.
In the early morning of Nov. 9, Trump was announced the winner of the 2016 presidential election.
Given how divided Americans were over Clinton and Trump, it is unsurprising that, in the wake of his democratically elected win, numerous protests have broken out.
While some people might argue that these protests are happening because it’s Trump, it is also safe to assume that if Clinton had won the same types of things would probably still be happening.
Although with Trump as our new president many of us are scared of his unstable policies, personality, and the disgusting words he’s used throughout his campaign.
Though there are many people who vote for a candidate because of his or her political party affiliation and policies, there are those who focus on character.
While having political experience is a good thing it is an individual’s character from which judgments are formed that become the rock — the foundation to the people’s mind.
First impressions are everything.
Trump’s first impression left people with panic and fear. He has more than his share of flaws. He is constantly putting his foot in his mouth because he has trouble controlling it. His campaign has been riddled with inappropriate comments and he obviously has no experience as a politician.
However, reacting badly to your “team’s” defeat is human nature. But at some point human nature has to give over to fact and reason. The fact here is that Trump won fair and square.
Even though people may not like that he won and just wish that all this was a bad dream only to wake up and hope Trump was never part of the election, that’s not going to happen.
In fact, we need to wake up and realize he was not installed as a dictator. Nor was he placed by some high power or by some other type of power other than the power of the vote.
Whether or not we agree with how democratic elections in America run, and have been for centuries, it is something we can work out for ourselves — people voted for him, people wanted him as president.
What we should do is stop all the nonsense and give Trump a chance to be president. For many Americans that is a hard reality to accept.
However, giving Trump a chance doesn’t mean you support him and it certainly doesn’t mean you can’t later on after you’ve given him that chance.
It simply means place your pride and ego on a shelf and it’s time to get behind him whether we want to or not because he is our next president.
If you support Clinton and/or Obama you should give Trump a chance. Clinton in her powerful concession speech told her supporters we owe Trump the chance to lead.
She also said, “Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power and we don’t just respect that, we cherish it.”
Obama also called for the peaceful transition of power. In his address to the public after hearing of Trump’s win, Obama told Americans, “We are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country.”
Usually when someone runs a country we wouldn’t want people to run with all this negativity behind them but in positivity to lead this country and lead us in the right direction — not down a hill.
If neither Clinton nor Obama can convince us to give Trump a chance, what about our American unity? Jokes and politics aside, we are, no matter the skin color, Americans.
The labels we use to mark our identities — Republican, Democrat, black, white, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic — can empower us, but it can also separate, alienate and ultimately limit us.
Obama expressed these same beliefs after Trump’s win by saying we’re all on the same team.
Riots are not peaceful and it is not best for the country. Threatening others, verbal abuse through derogatory terms is not peaceful and not what’s best for the country either. Trump is president but he doesn’t even take power until Jan. 20.
Yet for some reason, people are setting the world alight in anger and pure hatred. Everyone resisting Trump and everyone supporting him want what’s best for the U.S.
The opinions, yes, are different, the rhetoric can be frightening on both sides but accepting Trump as president is not accepting or supporting his policies.
Peacefully accepting his win, however, is good for the country and good for us as citizens.
