Reflections An Open Letter to Trump Donald Trump will be our new president. He will be my president and yours, whether or not you voted for him or supported his candidacy. Believe it or not, a hashtag doesn’t exclude you from his leadership. I respect the democratic process and the office of the presidency enough to accept the results of the election. President-elect Trump will have to earn my respect, but I stand willing to see what he does before passing conclusive judgment. I’ve seen a lot of understandably distraught people responding in many different ways. I am definitely among those who are particularly concerned after Tuesday night. But after sulking I searched for an optimistic response and wanted to say a few things. To those of us who strongly opposed him and are a bit devastated by his victory, He won fair and square. We can moan about the electoral college all we want, but that isn’t new and it was always the determining factor in who won this election. It is a little upsetting to think the popular vote does not have the final say, but instead of complaining about it now we should have been fighting against it the whole time. If you are a liberal who did not vote for Hillary and are now protesting Trump, let this be a lesson. The fact that he won irrefutably proves that the system is not rigged. Mark down November 6, 2018 and November 3, 2020 on your calendars. Please show up and vote strategically. The way we are feeling now is the way that many of our political opponents have been feeling for the last 8 years. I know that feels like a bit of a false equivalency, but it is important to acknowledge that we all love this country enough to be this hurt when we think the wrong people govern us. Our values and visions of the future may differ but strong emotional reactions to politics come from patriotic love and the desire to shape a better society. Except for the genuinely racist people who happily supported the worst parts of his campaign, I see little reason to end friendships and cut bridges. The truth is that many people voted for him despite his racist policies just like many of us voted for Hillary despite being deeply troubled by her scandals and ties to Wall Street. We will
likely always disagree on many things, but try to understand the frustrations that fueled such a protest against the establishment and find common ground in moving forward more united. Calm the protests and save your voices for inauguration day. Stay as politically active throughout his presidency as you were during this election season. Every president campaigns differently than they preside, so now we just have to remain vigilant. As Bernie said, if he actually does improve the plight of working class Americans, then applaud him and support those efforts. If he makes a single move at the expense of marginalized minorities or to make this a less inclusive society, fight back and get involved. Do not forget that we want him to succeed. Both sides may have different ideas of what a successful Trump presidency looks like, but no matter who puts forth the effort I will support any policy that makes America a more perfect union. To those of you who supported him during the campaign and voted for him, I need you to at least try to understand why some of us are so hurt by this. This goes beyond what we think is the best tax policy or how best to deal with ISIS. Donald Trump, on more than one occasion, used explicitly racist rhetoric. And many of us thought and hoped that would be immediately disqualifying, but instead we watched audiences roar their approval and his numbers went up. For those of us who belong to the groups he targeted, it was extremely unsettling to watch our fellow citizens express that, essentially, they wanted us out of our home. It is impossible to not take attacks like that personally. I imagine that many of you might not really understand that feeling, but it was and remains a very real fear. This country has a long history of taking away rights from minorities when it is afraid, so when threats like his are made we do not have the luxury of thinking he will not actually do it or that he would be unable to fulfill those promises. We have to take him at his word. Rather than mocking or being dismissive of those genuine fears, please take the time to try and understand what
it feels like to belong to a group targeted by some of the things he said on the campaign trail. It has been a somber few days coming to terms with the fact that insulting and scaring minorities was a part of the campaign of the newly elected president. We didn’t think that could be a winning strategy but it was. I know a lot of you voted him for him as a protest against the system, or against Hillary, or in solidarity with your party and were probably repulsed by the same rhetoric that we were. At least, I truly hope that is the case. If that is the case and you now feel unfairly labeled as a racist or a misogynist, then please join us in fighting every moment of his presidency that is racist and misogynistic. We will likely disagree with you on much of his policies, but if you did not vote in favor of racism then do not allow him to misrepresent you. Congratulations, you came out to support your candidate and party when and where it mattered and because of that you will be able to see more of your own values reflected in policy. Despite strongly disagreeing with most of the Republican platform, I do believe a balance between liberal and conservative leadership is a good thing and I sincerely hope he does work towards making America great for all Americans. You might laugh off my completely pretentious attempt at making sense of issues much more complicated than I am capable of understanding. I also don’t hate Nickelback and thought Martin O’Malley was the obvious choice for president, so you would be fully justified in doing so. At the end of it all, I love this country. Even when it feels like that love is unrequited. I was born here and I will probably die here. I am unapologetically passionate about politics and government because I do not believe anything about this system is rigged or so far removed from us that we can do nothing to bring about the change we hope to see. I want this to be a
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