The United States has experienced it’s own Brexit. I underestimated the support for Trump in this country. For months I have watched the polls closely. You know them, 538 by Nate Silver and Princeton Election Consortium. Trump explicitly insulted many racial, ethnic, and historically oppressed groups. Whether it was Trump making fun of Rosie O’Donnell for being overweight or Mrs. Khan for being too quiet about the death of her son, he always had something to say. I thought “Sure, this may work with a fair percentage of the base, but he’ll never win the candidacy.” Then once he was declared as the nominee by the RNC, I figured, “Sure, but there is no way he will win the general election.” Hillary Clinton, a woman who has been in politics since the 80s and apart of the judicial system since the 70s, ran her campaign. She mostly smeared Trump and talked highly of herself. I figured that while enough people did not find her likable, she would still win because she was the most knowledgable. The country then had 270 minutes of debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The country heard him call Latinx immigrants as “Bad Hombres”, say that in third term abortions the clinics rip babies out of vaginas, and tell Lester Holt that “Stop & Frisk” was not unconstitutional (guess what, it is). I, along with my college friends and blue-collared dad, said there was no way for Trump to win. He lost miserably in the debate and all of America heard how he could just “Grab them by the Pussy.” Well, I was wrong. I underestimated this country. I underestimated women, particularly white women, who I expected to vote against Trump. I assumed that most people would find Trump too offensive. I figured using legislation which worked against people of color, women, lgbtq+, and intersectional communities would be enough for the 51+%. I thought that since Mitt Romney, when the Republican Party said they needed a change within their base, would be enough for Trump to lose. It was not. The silent majority which Trump supporters swore existed, I did not believe. But it is. In the same election which we have had a Vice President give a speech exclusively in Spanish, we have elected the most regressive president in terms of diversity. I thought the face of America was changing, and it was. To a group of people that supported a white-lash at all costs. I am personally sorry to groups that Trump has targeted. The years ahead may be incredibly difficult, but I swear to myself to always be an ally. And if this presidency, congress, and Supreme Court bring on oppression, I will exert my constitutional right to speak out and protect.

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