How Did We Get Here?

November 8th, 2016: The Day Politics Changed Forever

A brisk fall afternoon was supposed to be the day the highest glass ceiling would have been shattered. I remember joyfully walking to Community High School in Ann Arbor ready to cast my vote for the candidate whom I believe would make great strides for this country: Hillary Clinton. While although I had shared my fair share of doubts about this candidate, I firmly believed she would do amazing things for this nation. The day of the election every media outlet and voter I came in contact with seemed confident that she would win the election. However, we were all wrong as we would find out soon.

As night fell, the tides began to change. I remember watching the New York Times barometer on its website slowly shift from "95% Chance of Hillary winning" to Trump territory as the hours passed. I remember feeling anxious thinking, "No, this is not possible. There is no way he could win. Everyone said Hillary had it in the bag."

How did we get here? I believe many things led to the rise of Trump. Some reasons include the media's lack of attention to communities in rust belt states, Hillary's campaign's lack of regard for communities that felt unrecognized, and fake news on social media. I think one of the most important determinants of this election was the lack of discussion that took place between right and left wing voters. We kept augmenting our voices to those who already agreed with us. This got us nowhere. Now we have the power to change this and learn from our mistakes.

Politics is not black and white, like this website. It may be the most gray thing out there. Let's start listening to one another and hear what we have to say.