On November 9 2016 at 2:30 AM, Donal J Trump was elected the President of the United States — in what was and will be called a historical upsetting victory.
I spent eight hours among Trump supporters, trying to understand their perspective and comprehend it. I could understand the frustrated blue-collar family looking for a better economy. I couldn't understand their intolerance. It’s true — living in New York City entraps you in a diverse liberal bubble where everyone accepts everyone or at least pretends to do so. We failed to know the reality. The bubble had burst open on Election Day. The conservatives, the purists and the blue-collar workers looking for change found it in a xenophobic, jingoist human being. The CBS Exit polls show 53% of Trump voters were men, 67% were men without a college degree and 83% were people who wanted 'change'.
Last night, I heard the words ‘Put her in jail’, ‘fucking cunt’, ‘we are going to burn the buildings down’. Apparently, people also shouted ‘Kill Obama’ at Trump’s victory speech.
On the contrary, I also heard Trump supporters chime ‘Why can’t we be friends?’ and ‘All lives matter’ to outraged Hilary fans shouting ‘Go ahead, build the wall’, ‘Black lives matter’ and‘Hitler would be proud of you, fucking Nazis.’
Maybe not all of them are racists, maybe they are. Maybe all of them are closet racists and this is their Trump card. But I did realize that every single Trump supporter adamantly chose to stay oblivious to his character. They refused to acknowledge his outrageous comments.
It dawns upon no one that when a racist bigot is in power it gives the courage to all the closet racists to openly put their views to practice. No one was willing to judge a man being given the most powerful position in the world based on his character.
'I am voting for what he will do to my country. I am not voting for his persona.' 'He may not be a smart person, but he is a real person.'
This baffles me.
On the other side of the world, my friends from India are delighted because they believe his victory would kick us all immigrants out and we would go back home. A sweet thought I guess, but it infuriated me.
I realized that I cannot be mad at strangers from last night rejoicing over the success of their nationalistic desires when my own people are celebrating intolerance towards immigrants.
There is something inherently wrong with people’s love for their land.
Living in this land now, I can only hope every human I meet in life to not be as narrow-minded as The 45th President of The United States.