Like many people — the majority of the country who voted for Hillary Clinton, in fact — I was shattered when I learned the results of the presidential election. It didn’t come all at once like for most people waking up the next day; I stayed up the entire night, staring in unblinking terror at the live Electoral College tallies in the desperate hopes that there would be a change. But there wasn’t. My uninterrupted nightmare continued the next day where the sky and weather seemed to reflect what we all felt.
I felt — no — I knew that my country didn’t care about people like me. They didn’t care about my friends, my classmates or their families. They cared about policy that benefited them and them alone, their party, their self-righteousness and their desperate attempt for change to the point they would let the world burn to do so. I didn’t know what was going to happen and, truth be told, a few months later, I still don’t quite know. But something did strike in me; as much as the clouds and thunder roared over our heads on Election and Inauguration Day, it was representative of not our sorrows at the time nor a foreboding of a totalitarian government, but rather a foreshadowing of the storm that would come against our government.
Let me be clear: That man (I refuse to stroke his ego by mentioning his name) is weak. Someone whose administration within his first 60 days is wrought with the kind of scandals that plagued Nixon after six years cannot keep this up for long. Unfortunately, I don’t think this will mean that he’s due to be impeached yet, due to the spineless members of Congress, but he’s falling apart and we need to keep pushing that dam until it breaks. The problem with him and his fervent supporters is that he generates too much hype that gets him blind support for things like the rape allegations and the “Access Hollywood” tape.
If he was impeached or forced to resign, many would worry what homophobic Vice President Mike Pence would bring. However, while I think that Pence would be a horrible president, he wouldn’t be as bad as our current option. Pence will not tweet conspiracy theories at 3 a.m. Pence can actually formulate sentences. And, to quote “Game of Thrones,” Pence has “the personality of a lobster” and would never generate the excitement that the orange fascist does among his followers. Pushing for a removal of Trump from office, or at least doing everything to ensure Trump hates being in office so much that he either resigns out of necessity or to stop others from doing it to him, is the best way to at least gain the façade of sanity in our government.
One of the best things I can recommend is: Do not let yourself become distracted by his smoke. The only “fake news” are the distractions he puts out (the Obama wiretapping claim, for example) to distract from a bigger picture (the fact that most of his team has lied about meeting with Russian officials, for example). His White House’s actions do not strike me as an administration that is innocent of anything scandalous. Focus on the cracks, and keep pushing them until his vanity mirror is smashed into pieces.
And, as difficult as it may be, don’t be worn down. It’s a tough process when the White House seems to be making headlines and causing outrage every day, from the Muslim-targeted travel ban to allowing the DAPL pipeline to continue, the removal of provisions for trans students, a health-care bill that would hurt the poor, paying for the president’s wife to stay in a penthouse and so much, much more that it’s hard to believe it’s barely been two months since he started office. But do not let this chaos wear you down, as hard as it can be. Let us power through and overcome this chaos, as we have in the days of Stonewall and the AIDS crisis, to remember the outrage the Electoral College system caused us and to remember every crime against the soul of America — and hold those in power accountable. And never keep an eye off our government to remind it that it is suppose to serve the will of its people and we will work to that goal as hard as we can. Remember, my friends, even after the worst of storms, a bright rainbow will shine through.
Sean Morris is a freshman at Temple University.