Editor’s Note:  The following article is a dissenting opinion to the Editorial Board’s editorial “Reflections of the Presidential Election“

As an editor of The University School News, I strive to publish articles pertaining to the University School community. However, some societal issues have such an impact on the surrounding community that it would be unreasonable to refrain from commenting.

Hillary Clinton was almost certainly the next president of the United States. Until she wasn’t. In a very close election, Donald J. Trump defeated Clinton to become the President-elect of the United States. The results of this election have stirred up dangerous emotions throughout the nation. Let this stand as a reflection upon how Trump won and what should happen in the weeks, months, and years to come.

Those in opposition to Trump have spent the last year and a half enumerating his various flaws. Nearly everybody has heard about Trump’s proposal to ban the immigration of Muslims into this country, his promise to build a wall, and most famously, his proposition to make America great again. Yet, nearly half of this nation voted this man into office. It is easy to label these 61,820,845 “deplorables” as racists who tacitly approve of Trump’s prejudiced remarks. But, it is difficult to examine these voters’ underlying thought processes.

One obvious reason many people voted for Trump is due to a hatred for Hillary Clinton. Just as one could find an avid Clinton supporter ranting about Trump’s ignorance, surely one could find a Trump supporter with equally as thought out reasons to dislike Clinton. This is very important. We must understand that millions of rural republicans voted Trump due to a fear of a Democratically controlled federal government. To these voters, their jobs, rights, and lifestyles were on the ballot. Trump managed to activate these rural voters in unprecedented quantities. He activated these voters not through his “derogatory” language but through his talk of preserving American jobs. To these voters, bringing back American jobs is an important issue. Democrats respond with a wide array of arguments about how Trump’s economic policies are only going to damage the economy further. They may have valid arguments. But, advocates of Trump make equally as valid responses. Trump’s activation of the “rust belt” was critical for his win in early November. Liberals respond to this analysis by arguing that even if Trump’s economic policies activated a large portion of voters, these voters still tacitly approve of the mass prejudice that lies in Trump’s rhetoric.

The fundamental issue with this argument is that it assumes Trump’s rhetoric is laden with hate. In other words, many of Trump’s supporters do not believe he is a blatant racist. Again, arguments can be made on both sides. Trump indeed has supported a proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country. But, Trump supporters argue that this ban was proposed not out of hate but out of concern for the safety of the country. Trump supporters claim that the ban will crucially filter out potentially dangerous terrorists, who are overwhelmingly Muslim. Islamophobia is the belief that Muslims are inherently inferior and dangerous to human society. None of Trump’s rhetoric corroborates this claim that he is Islamophobic. As his policies stand today he does not have any intention of oppressing Muslim Americans.  He is actively instructing his supporters to avoid any sort of hate crime against Muslims.

Trump is a racist. Yet, none of his policies oppose any race.

Trump is anti-Hispanic. Yet, he received two percent more of the Hispanic vote than Mitt Romney did in 2012. Trump is Homophobic. Yet, he has recently stated he has no intention on appointing a supreme court justice who would overturn Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). Trump is anti-woman. Yet, the gender gap in this election was about the same as the gap in any presidential election dating back to 2000. Donald Trump is not a sensitive person. I am not arguing that he is this beacon of equality and hope for all people. I am arguing, however, that he is not the beacon of hate and oppression that so many liberals illustrate him to be. I get confused when Democrats make the “tacit approbation” claim about Trump. This is because Democrats reserve no time for explaining Trump’s hatred. Rather, they postulate it with seemingly no evidence.

The vast majority of Trump supporters are not overtly prejudiced. For the ones who are, Trump has outspokenly disapproved of their recent acts of hatred. Casting a vote involves many issues. For Trump, he won a majority of voters who found his economic plan, immigration policies, and “Pro-American” rhetoric to be fundamental issues that Clinton could simply not deliver on. This does not mean that his supporters are silent advocates of racism and hate.

Another portion of Trump voters most likely felt the pull of the Republican party. They feared losing the leverage of a Republican House. To these voters, the only way a Republican Congress can act efficiently is with a Republican president. The moderate Republicans who voted for Trump most likely fall into this category.

A wide array of reasons caused Trump to win this election. Nonetheless, in the days and weeks following the result many protests have sprung up around the nation. I do not oppose protesting; I think it is a core right of all citizens. I become fearful when the protests begin to burn the American flag. I become fearful when protesters chant “not my president”. I respected Democrats during the election when they spoke about the importance of peaceful transitions of power. It is at the core of our presidential system. It is greatly upsetting, and further polarizing, for these same people to be protesting the outcome of this election. For them to retrospectively protest a system in which they participated is contradictory and illogical. These protests should revolve around the specific issues that need addressing, not around Trump’s unfair win.

Donald Trump will begin his presidency in January. Until then he has some work to do. He must bring the nation back together. This means advocating for unity and inclusion more expressly. It means compromising on certain issues. Trump’s election into office and presidency will undoubtedly go down as one of the most surprising and interesting political events to occur in American history.

The candidates we were given this year were not good by any standard. Many say they voted for the best of two evils. But, we must have faith in the democratic system that governs this nation. We must have faith in our ability to protest important issues. We must understand what this election represents and why it ended in the way that it did. We must not judge a person on the basis of who he or she voted for. We ought to respect that person for fulfilling his or her civic duty. We ought not remove ourselves from this election, from this society, in hopes of “abstaining from culpability”. On the contrary, we must delve into the issues and utilize our resources to promote that which we believe in. Let us not allow Trump’s election into office be a failure. Let us ensure that his time in office is a success.