With the victory of Trump, I, like millions of other Americans, am furious with so many people and institutions. Yet, now that we must accept this outcome, I do myself, and the people and issues I care about, a profound disservice if I only focus on the pessimism I feel about the next four years.
To be clear, thinking about the next four years really does engender great fear and bitter disappointment. Every single issue that I care so passionately about will be challenged and uprooted – from climate change to healthcare to education policy; we are entering into a new era of the conservative policy agenda.
While he may have been able to garner enough support to win the Electoral College, I do not believe that the majority of Americans subscribe to Trump’s dangerous rhetoric. Therefore, while the conservative policy agenda will make huge strides, the most heinous of Trump’s plans, such as deporting 11 million people, are unlikely to bear fruit.
Perhaps most importantly, Trump, even with the office of the presidency, will never be able to bring back the America that ignored the humanity of the LGBTQ community or the America that allowed discrimination of racial minorities. America will never be “great again” in the way that Trump deceivingly promised his voters. His movement will inevitably suffocate itself, and a new generation will be there to pick up the pieces and build a new Republican party.
It is within this new generation that I have found a glimmer of hope - hope in the America we will inevitably become.
My generation will be the most diverse, most educated, and potentially the most united in American history. We accept people that are different from us and understand that America is great because of its diversity. We fight to build bridges and not walls. We aim to inspire, not to demean.
The divisive politics of the last six months are likely to continue over the next four years, and this divisiveness will only unite and mobilize the majority of Americans who do not share Trump’s hatefulness, especially Millennials. America will continue to diversify, and we will champion this diversity. Those of us who came of age in the Obama era have seen what is possible, and we will be united when the time comes for us to lead our nation and the world.
My generation will not stand by and allow intolerance to fester. We will not abandon the issues we care so deeply about. We will not stop dreaming about a better America.
We will not give up, no matter who is in the White House.
Millennials rallying for President Obama in 2008.