2016 Presidential Election: A Country in Discord

With the recent end of the 2016 United States presidential election over, disparity within the U.S. has arisen at what some say is a historic level regarding the presidency. The national polls closed on Tuesday, November 8th showing Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote, but Donald Trump winning the electoral vote, making him the 45th president of the United States of America.

While, typically, the election of a new president is a time of celebration and new beginnings for the future, the 2016 election did not bring about such optimistic results. As soon as Trump’s future presidency was officially announced, Clinton supporters were shown sobbing in defeat along with various news anchors covering the election. Many curse and recite the phrase, “You’re not dreaming…Donald Trump has won the presidency.”

Following the emotional and mental defeat, those against Trump decided to take a stand. Anti-trump protests quickly began in the streets, as people chanted phrases such as “Not my president” or rhymes against Trump’s “bigotry” and “racism”. Protests spread from New York to Los Angeles to a dozen major cities across the United States, as numbers grew from hundred to tens of thousands of protesters in some cities. Some of the large-scale protests even lasted five days in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and although these large-scale protests began as peaceful gatherings, shootings, and attacks on police officers have led to forced-police intervention as seen in Portland.

Anti-trump protests have not only been taken to streets, but to schools as well. Students across the country have taken action in the protests against Trump’s presidency as groups of American high schoolers rally together, especially in areas with high minority and young female populations.

In addition to public unrest, many demographics have expressed an evoked fear as a result of the Trump’s election, primarily Muslims, Hispanics, and women. While this may seem unreasonable, stories of people telling minorities aggressive implications such as “time to get out” have received much attention through Facebook and other social media.

Given all this protest and rallying, there is a clear disparity between a large portion of the American people. Stories of broken friendships, burning the American flag, declaring immigration to Canada, and motivating others to assassinate the future president have all surfaced as a result of Donald Trump’s victory. Most oppositions argue that he is a racist, sexist, unqualified idiot, while a handful of his supporters hold these qualities to be just, as seen in the Ku Klux Klan’s open support of Trump in addition to videos of racially induced harassment of non-Trump supporters. All in all, this discord present in 2016 is one that will have lasting effects on the nation’s legacy.