A Different Direction

A+Different+Direction

Laura Nicolescu, Co-Editor-In-Chief

Ten days after the fateful election that named Donald J. Trump the next president of the United States, its bitter remnants are still evident. To the dismay of liberals around America, this election blocks the Democratic Party out of the White House, with Republicans soon to be in control of Congress in addition to the presidency, and marks the possible end of the Clinton political legacy.

Although nothing can be done to change the outcome, the election won’t be forgotten quickly. People around America, especially millennials and students, won’t merely accept the outcome without making clear their distaste. Senior Ally Dunford embodies this mentality and says her post-election feeling can be summed up in one word: disappointed, especially for the minority class.

“I feel remorse and I feel extremely bad for the laws and decisions that are going to be made by Trump, that are going to affect minorities,” Dunford said. “Since I’m a white female and upper middle class, it’s not going to affect me as much, but I’m very disappointed for the people it is going to affect.”

A fan of Clinton since before she was Secretary of State, Dunford says Clinton advocates for the majority instead of just the top one percent.  

“As someone who wants to go into politics in the future I find that extremely necessary and something that I look for in any political candidate, Democrat or Republican,” Dunford said.

She says there were two main things that stunted Clinton’s road to the presidency.

“I do think a huge factor was that she didn’t campaign in Michigan and Indiana, since those have always been liberal states, but she ended up losing in those states because that’s where Trump focused,” Dunford said. “I also think the FBI opening up her email scandal just a few days before the election definitely had an effect on last minute voters who were just trying to decipher between the 2 candidates.”

The media also played a large role in the election, says Dunford, dramatizing the scandals on both sides whenever possible.

“I honestly think the liberal and conservative media outlets exaggerated each of the political opponent’s flaws and never focused on the main issues,” Dunford said. “It shifted the focus toward sexual assaults from Trump and Clinton’s email scandal and what happened in Benghazi and they never really focused on the policies. That was definitely a fault of the media.”

Despite Clinton’s share of scandals, Dunford says she would’ve never voted for Trump.

“I don’t stand behind any of Trump’s policies,” Dunford said. “I’m most afraid of our foreign policy because he has no real background in foreign policy at all, or in politics for that matter. If I could vote, that’s why I wouldn’t vote for him, especially with the misogyny, disrespect and outright rudeness that stems from him. So from a political standpoint and a moral standpoint, I don’t support him.”

Dunford believes Trump’s uncoached look and speech gained him a lot of unprecedented supporters and drew a lot of people away from Clinton, a well-known figure in politics.

“I think the silent majority just wanted the non-establishment candidate,” Dunford said. “They want someone who hasn’t been in politics because they just think the whole system’s corrupt. And they liked that he just said it how it was.”

In a throwback to Bush v. Gore, Clinton won the popular vote but lost in the electoral college, a system Dunford says should be abolished.

“The electoral college doesn’t represent the will of the majority and doesn’t represent how they feel, and that’s just inherently undemocratic,” Dunford said. “I think it’s only a hinderance that leaves more room for political corruption and more room for discrepancies in votes.”

With many furious about the outcome of the election, protests, both peaceful and violent, are erupting in major cities across the country, such as the Not My President campaign. Dunford, however, says that’s exactly the reaction Trump wants to get out of people who support Clinton.

“I’m an advocate for peaceful protest but not an advocate for violent protest,” Dunford said. “I definitely don’t support this part of the response.”

Dunford says the most important thing the nation must do is come together and respect the outcome of the election, regardless of if we agree with it or not.

“You don’t have to 100 percent agree with the person but at least respect the position that our electoral college voted for,” Dunford said. “Although Trump doesn’t represent the will of the people, we still have to respect that he was elected into the presidency.”

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