2016 Presidential Election Night
What was supposed to be a historic night, went down in history for all of the wrong reasons. The night started off just fine, with a couple of states initially called for both Trump and Clinton. I wasn’t worried; the polling and the models indicated that Clinton just needed to pick up one or two swing states to shut out Trump from the 270 electoral votes necessary to win. With Vermont, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and D.C. called for Clinton, I was calm, we were seemingly on our way to the first female president. Then Delaware, Illinois, and Rhode Island were called for her. Yet, there was no way of knowing how the night was about to turn. Suddenly, Florida was too close to call. I stared in awe as results were reported county by county. At a virtual tie, with thousands of panhandle votes left to be reported, it was looking like Florida would be the first disappointment of the night. That’s when the night started to shift, with state after state coming in, too close to call. Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire, all too close to call. It was looking bad, not only in the swing states, but in the so-called rust belt states, that have been largely attributed to a democratic firewall. As the firewall started to crumble, so did Clinton’s chances at the White House. By 2 a.m. I faced the truth, and went to bed.
The next morning I awoke to to the harsh reality that Donald Trump had secured the presidency. He performed one of the greatest upsets in political history. In fact, Trump won the electoral college while losing the popular vote. This rare phenomenon has only happened five times in the history of our country. Five times too many I might add. Moreover, I was alarmed at the state of the country. I was left appalled and in awe, that a man whose rhetoric is misogynistic, racist, and xenophobic, could have actually gotten elected to the highest office in the land. I was upset that this country that I love so dearly, had chosen to break with the principals and direction that I ultimately felt we were heading to. I was afraid of what life might be like for the millions of minorities in this country.
Since the results on November 9th, I have come to better terms. President-Elect Trump has already dialed back on several of his campaign promises. He no longer wishes to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He also referred to the landmark case, Obergefell v. Hodges as settled law. These wins for progress keep me optimistic about the fate of our country. Combined with the 1.7 million popular vote lead for Clinton, I know America as a whole is ready to move forward.
