Election 2016: Completely and Utterly Devastated
The clock reads 11:40PM and I just saw a tweet from the Associated Press that they’ve awarded the election to Donald J Trump. It’s a sentence that I have a hard time trying to fathom. When I got home from work a little after 4:30PM the first state results were coming in and everything just felt slightly closer then polls were suggesting pre-election. I spent so much of the last three weeks reading websites like 538, New York Times, Slate, Politico, and the like. All polls and signs pointed to a Clinton landslide, if not that then a solid victory. Nothing could prepare me though for the devastation of learning that Donald Trump will be our next President.
A couple of days ago I wrote why Jenn and I voted for Hillary Clinton. In that post I talked about the things I dislike about Donald Trump. Now only a couple of minutes after the announcement came out and I felt like I should write how I’m feeling.
Jenn asked me right before everything started to unravel for Hillary Clinton, what do you honestly think the worst case scenario is for Trump? I started to think about it and really my biggest fears with Trump are two things. First a collapse of the economy. During tonight’s election as it started to turn for Trump the Dow Futures dropped the maximum 500 points. The international markets are just starting to tumble as they open as well. The economy is a fickle thing and if confidence in America drops our economy will suffer. The second area that scares me with Trump is war. What I loved about Obama and believed in Hillary was a steady hand, something I don’t see with Trump at all. I don’t think Trump has the stomach or the trigger finger that people believe him to have, but I do think he has a short temper, and that could be catastrophic in the white house.
I hope I’m wrong. I hope with every fiber in my body I’m wrong. I hope that his racist sentiments don’t percolate into our country. I hope that we don’t go backwards on LGBTQ rights. I hope that Planned Parenthood continues to be funded and that women’s rights flourish instead of backtrack. I pray that Muslims and other immigrants feel welcome and at home here in America. I hope and pray with everything that I have that I was completely wrong about Trump and that in four years I look back and ask what was I worried about all this time?
But now a little after midnight I must say that I’m still beyond fearful. If you asked me right now, all of those things I don’t really believe any of them will go in the right direction with Donald Trump as President. I’m also fearful for the youth in this country who saw an ill prepared bully beat an over prepared and over qualified woman. We witnessed an electorate that so badly wanted something different to Obama that they would elect a man with no experience, who’s endorsed by the KKK and videotaped bragging about sexual assault. That’s the guy we elected.
I’m sure over the weeks ahead we will learn where Hillary underestimated her opponent and where Trumps strategy worked to perfection. But in the end I care less about that and more about living in a country that I’m proud of. A country that stands for freedom and liberty and not hate and scare tactics. I do hope somehow Trump can become “presidential” but I’m genuinely scared that won’t happen.
I'm sure this is only the beginning of me talking politics, but for now I will try and close my eyes and pray that we didn't just make the biggest mistake in American history.
