By: Jessica Lau
May the odds be ever in our favor. While many Americans sat in front of their televisions, waiting, anxiously for the result of the election. My five-year-old niece tugged on my pajamas and asked me “Auntie Jess, are we going to lose? Are we in danger if Trump wins?” When she said that I was speechless. What was once a joke has become the new terrifying reality. Donald Trump is now the 45th President of the United States.
On November 8th Donald Trump won the presidency by a landslide, winning 279 electoral votes, while Hillary Clinton brought in only 218. States such as Florida, Nevada, Michigan, and Ohio voted in favor of Trump. The Republican map was bloody red. When the votes started to increase for Trump, many voters turned to Canada as their way out. Canada’s immigration website in turn crashed.
The morning after, the stock market plummeted. Voters who supported Hillary Clinton were devastated. While many people hate Trump, some voters didn’t trust Hillary either.
Sally Law, a social worker and former teacher, said she voted based on the fact that one of the candidates didn’t share her views on certain policies.
“I rather vote for someone that I don’t know than vote for someone that doesn’t share my viewpoints,” said Law.
During the beginning of the election when Trump and Hillary had their first few debates, Trump would often stutter about his plans and constantly change his viewpoints on how to change America while simultaneously, throwing insults out about women.
Trump has outlined some of the things he plans to do while in office. He plans to punish women who have had abortions, and believes sexual assault is a matter of nature. Vice-President Elect Mike Pence believes in Conversion Therapy. This involves the use of electroshock therapy to turn LGBTQ members straight.
Make America Great Again? How exactly will a Trump administration achieve that? Trump has suggested making America great entails taking away the Affordable Care Act affecting millions of citizens. According to Gallup, there has been an almost 13.4 percent drop of American adults without insurance.
Women have been fighting for equality since getting the right to vote in 1920. Nowadays, women are still fighting for equal pay and a decent level of respect. According to the Pew Research Center, 54 percent of women supported Trump while Hillary received 42 percent.
On Twitter, the hashtag #NotMyPresident has been trending for days. Many Twitter users are terrified that Trump has become president.
Caroline Sander, an Accounting Major, said she embraced the world as a minority, but is fearful what the world has in store for minorities with Trump as president.
“I have never been afraid to be gay, African-American or a woman before. But, Trump becoming president is a nightmare,” said Sander.
Minorities are scared and angered for a good reason. Trump and his supporters have been showing their true colors since the campaigning stage.
During a Trump rally, in November an African-American protester chanting “Black Lives Matter” was beat up by trump supporters. Trump encouraged his supporters to “rough him up” a little more.
On Election Day a video went viral on the Internet of a white woman, who is a Trump supporter, yelling and pushing an African-American-Clinton-supporter. If this is how Trump supporters act this world will soon become a war zone. He recently mocked a disabled reporter intimating him and his movements along with threatening to deport Mexicans.
In the beginning of the campaign, many major news networks predicted Clinton would win. But the media let Clinton down by obsessing over the email scandal. People began to not trust Clinton.
Mark Duran, Political Science major, at John Jay College said Hillary Clinton was clearly the superior candidate, having previous experience in Washington, but she was the reason for her loss.
“I guess I’m angriest with Democratic voters,” said Duran. “All signs point to the fact voters are tired of the system that we’re living in. There’s too much money in politics and too many special interests that influence how our politicians make decisions. Clinton has a lot of ties with these special interests creating her downfall.”
Clinton’s concession speech in New York congratulated Trump on his win, apologized to her voters and encouraged little girls to never doubt how valuable and powerful they are.
As a queer, Asian-American journalist, fear was a factor in my decision to vote for Clinton. Trump has become president, this reality, I as well as all other Americans have to accept. Take the time to mourn but get ready to fight with everything you have because these four years will prove what we have as Americans.
