When the elections started and Donald Trump announced that he was running for President, many people would laugh and say to me "guess you must be glad you're leaving the country." I never laughed. When I think back on my time living in Spain, the hardest part of that experience for me was that people assumed that by being an American I was a Bush-supporter, even when I was standing next to them in the anti-war marches and protests. So many times I heard, "but you're American, you must support your President." I didn't then, and I won't now.
All day yesterday I had a pit in my stomach, but Paúl was confident, reassuring me that the polls and reliable sources were saying it'd be close, but that Hillary would pull through. Today I wake with a sense of shame and embarrassment. More so than I felt with Bush. This time it's not about politics (because he clearly doesn't have any experience to back his "politics"). This time it's about humanity, diversity, equality, opportunity, and the environment. Isn't THAT what our country is support to stand for?
How can HALF of our entire country truly think that he is the "better option" to "make our country great"? Even if Clinton wasn't your favorite candidate when it came to the issues, I can respect that. I can respect a difference of opinion on how to manage the issues of our country, as there are many, but I cannot respect supporting someone who has notoriously, publicly, and so blatantly been unreliable, disrespectful and careless in his words and actions. We can't just brush this off as "oh, he's just a guy, they're just words". It's not just words. It's his character. Brushing it off only perpetuals and enables the problem. And we're not just talking about who will head your bowling league or your book club.... this is the leader of our country who will be the face and decision maker of international relations and major policies that will affect you, me, our families, neighbors and children for a long time.
My only hope now is in the government Republicans (with actual experience) who didn't support Trump and can hopefully be the voice of reason to keep him line. Unfortunately, with the Republicans winning the majority in the Senate and now to have the majority in the Supreme Court, this could have some serious consequences for women's rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, human rights, and the environment.
Living out of the country does not make me feel better. I am grateful that most of my family and friends are in California, in liberal areas where I hope they will be less susceptible to hate and discrimination, but I still hurt for the rest of the minorities, underprivileged, underserved people in our country. Today I am ashamed to be American, and here I am again, in a position where I have to answer for the half of the country I can't relate with when people here ask me "why did they vote for him?" Maybe I'm the naive one, maybe I'm brainwashed- at this point, anything's possible. Anything helps to try to comprehend how we arrived to this disgraceful point.
