Donald Trump's Presidency

The election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the USA marks a new age in politics: a paradigm shift that brings the rejection of conventional politicians, and the rise of public figures foreign to the inner-workings of government. The gut punch that shuddered throughout liberal America on the 9th of November left, and will continue to leave, anxious feelings of uncertainty throughout our nation for the next four years. The shocking results of a long and ugly campaign trail unearths the realization that a sizeable amount of US citizens, specifically those of the Republican Party, feel so desperate for change in Washington that they are willing to elect a racist, misogynist, xenophobic, and sexist to be the leader of the free world. Though Trump’s rise to power has been tainted with hateful obscenities, leaving his public image to many broken beyond reparation, I choose to believe the optimistic notion that every red state in the US is mostly made up of voters protesting the status quo, and not people looking to drive the machinery of division between people. That at least half of Trump supporters are simply adhering to their personal political agenda, blocking out the horrific means in which this is achieved. And while every citizen has the right to choose a candidate that they feel supports important issues, when does a person’s character outweigh politics? We are caught, as a nation, in a moral dilemma that should now be in the forefront of national discussion. When Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, one question will linger in every Republican home: At what point does an election transcend politics and become a vote of one’s character?It is no secret that, for the past eight years, the White House has been in charge of Barack Obama, a democratic president. And while many Californians, including myself, would like to think that much of the country was pleased with his term, this is sadly not the case. Most of middle and southern America are frustrated with the current trend of the Presidential baton, and in an act of what I like to believe was a misconstrued need for radical change, waves of voters gave their blessing to Trump. Now of course when a campaign of bigotry is marched throughout areas that are known to be prejudice throughout history, it is bound to attract voters whose main objective is to simply exercise their hateful passions in the confines of a legitimate movement. But what about those Republicans that simply want their political values accounted for at any cost? People that yearn for gun rights, tax cuts, and countless other issues found themselves aboard a vessel of hate in order to meet their agendas. I wonder if the somewhat level-headed republicans of our nation even considered sacrificing their stance on a specific topic in order to stop a demagogue securing office. Perhaps that is too much to ask for, that voters will seize the opportunity to support the ideals of a party, even if the masthead is a person of compromised character. And this is somber reality of our nation, a reality that must never be repeated.As a nation, we hold a responsibility to make progress on social issues everyday. To learn to accept, forgive, and guard the youth from ideas of hatred and bigotry. And yet, when met with an adversary to the human condition, much of the US faltered. Feeling cornered and coaxed into a radical inclination to shake up the presidential benchmark, a man who threatened years of work and movement in the right direction was given the reigns to set it back monumentally. And now, to prevent a familiar rise to power in the future, Must the two parties hold the other accountable when it comes to the character of a candidate and the platform in which they run upon? Is it ok for a non-racist, non-sexist, non-xenophobic Republican citizen to make a stand against the champion of their own party if that person is not socially fit to be President? These are not questions for the hate-fueled supporters of Trump, but instead those who find themselves torn between weakening their ideals in the eyes of national government or strengthening them through a host of terrible character. For at the end of the day, what is that money saved by a tax cut if it comes at the cost of hundreds of thousands Americans feeling unwelcome in the country they live in.Now, in the aftermath of a disheartening loss the a symbol of everything we as people strive not to be, facts of our country emerge from the rubble. Perhaps the most glaring of all of them being America’s rejection of status-quo politics. As a nation we seem to want outsiders, those innocent of the “Dirty game” of politics, who can actually make change. The irony in this desire is that Donald Trump comes nowhere close to fitting that description, yet he managed manipulate and bend his image to fit that of an unconventional savior. Plagued by bankruptcy, fraud, and countless other acts of deviance in the corporate sector, Trump is not the mind to lead the fast approaching new age of politics. Instead, it will be the brilliant members of Silicon Valley, leaders in education, or dare I say it, someone from an uncorrupted political background with new ideas. This is why the future of America is bright, for after the endurance of the next four years, a new leader will emerge. A leader that will not force a voter to compromise their social beliefs in order to support an issue, or vice-versa. A leader who will bring change with a determined smile of acceptance and not a flimsy comb-over of hate. A leader that will recognize that while America will always be divided on specific issues, it should never be separated by race, sex, sexual orientation.  And now, as infants wandering into a dark and ambiguous future, it is import to recognize that this horrific campaign season, and the next four years to come, are warning signs. Red flags that mark the beginning of a new political era, an era that must never again be compromised by the forces of hate and bigotry, but instead fostered in the great minds of America. The activists, CEOs, and politicians of the millennial generation amass brilliance and potential as new and exciting