The 2016 Presidential Election could be considered the most controversial in history.
Donald J. Trump, who won with the most electoral votes, is now the president. Hillary Clinton, who beat Trump in the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, is effectively in retirement.
And while some American citizens are outraged, others rejoiced after Trump’s inauguration on Friday. But despite your preferred candidate, one fact reigns supreme: America is extremely divided.
After that fateful second Tuesday of November, many anti-Trump protests ensued all over the United States. Citizens who oppose Trump took to the streets and social media to voice their opinions during marches saying that Trump is “not my president.” Some of that ill-will remains.
Prompted by Rep. John Lewis’ refusal to recognize the “legitimacy” of Trump’s presidency, for example, dozens of congressmen sat out the inaugural festivities last weekend.
Of course, Trump hasn’t made it easy on himself. After initially extending the olive branch of peace and reconciliation, he has taken to Twitter again and again during the past two months, praising Russian leader Vladimir Putin and criticizing his opponents such as Lewis, a highly respected civil rights leader,
When Trump said during one of last year’s presidential debates that America would have to “wait and see” if he would accept the results of the election if he lost, Clinton supporters were up in arms wondering what would happen if Trump refused to accept the election results. The hypocritical, and slightly ironic, part of this equation is that after the world found out that Clinton lost, some of her supporters did not accept the election results and protested.
In the past, people, including family members, were secretive about their political ideology. Since then that has changed dramatically due to the nature of social media, which lets us share our personal ideology with the world. Political views should be discussed. It’s important to have a wide range of opinions in order to appreciate all aspects of the political system. The unfortunate thing is, not everyone knows how to sit down and have a cordial and intellectual conversation. It is this inability to communicate that leads to a conflicted and divided nation.
And then there’s President Trump and his Twitter account.
What this country needs to do is put aside their political differences and come together as Americans. Right now, the rest of the world is looking at the widespread dysfunction in the United States and is making fun of us.
Despite all of the anger and outrage as a result of Trump’s victory, Americans are still Americans. Skin color and political beliefs shouldn’t matter.
It’s really unfortunate that American is turning against American and becoming so hostile. The way people treat one another needs to improve.
The president is the leader of the free world, but he’s only one man. We need to get together, to combine our ideas in order to represent our country in the best way possible; otherwise, we’ll be stuck in a cycle of hatred, a cycle of inefficient brooding.