In my 20 years on this Earth, I have never had an experience where even my worst nightmares are better than reality. At least that was until I woke up this morning to the news that Donald J. Trump is the next President of the United States.
While you’re probably wondering why I saw the news this morning and not last night, it’s because I could not bear to watch the country that I have grown up in, slip down a deadly slope. As the red electoral votes went slowly up, my hope went down. And I had great hope. I hoped that the polls would be wrong. I hoped that the angry white men that I walk past every day on my way to class were “all talk.” I hoped that this was just a dream and that I would wake up today and proudly shout that I live in a country with a Madame President.
I was wrong.
As I showered and brushed my teeth, tears continuously flowing, there was one question going through my mind: "How did this happen?"
While you can lecture me and tell me it happened because “X amount of people voted” etc, that is not what I mean. I want to know how we got to the point where women, minorities and LGBTQ+ people are no longer important to this country. How did we get to the point where a man with a pending rape trial can become the most powerful man in the world?
How did we get here? How can I accept that this is the path America is going to take?
Well, I can’t. I cannot accept that the person in charge of the “free world” leads a platform for racism, sexism, bigotry, and hate. I cannot accept that there are so many people in this country who would choose anger over love. I cannot accept that the most qualified woman in the world to be President of the United States lost to a man with zero qualifications.
Now, as a woman in this country, and a Jewish woman at that, I am terrified of what is to come. Before the election I would walk home alone at night fearful for my life, and now, I have even more reason to be. I do not feel safe in my own country, the one that I have supported and fought for, and that is why I cannot accept that we will have a President Trump.