I don’t know about you but I could not be more happy that the election is over and is not the only thing on the news anymore. It seems to me that ever since Donald Trump took office in 2017 that all I ever hear about on the news and in the media is Donald Trump this and Donald Trump that. Although he was the President, I am sick and tired of hearing about it.
In 2017 when trump was inaugurated, I didn’t really have that much interest in politics as it wasn’t necessarily pertaining to me as an individual and it was just starting to become a topic of interest to my generation. Fast forward to now where I do have interest in politics but now I don’t really feel the need to talk about it. I think we can all agree that the 2020 election was one of the weirdest, most challenging, and biggest election we’ve ever had. It was the first election I could vote in so I felt the need to pay attention. As media got more involved and society continued to pick sides I realized just how much I hated American politics.
It is known that within the American government we have a Republican party and Democratic party and there is a representative for each party that will go head to head and run against each other in the presidential election. I feel as though the 2020 presidential election has now changed the way we will view future elections. Now it is no longer about the party that you affiliate with but the person that affiliates with that party. For the 2020 presidential election, more than 159 million people voted which is the most in U.S. history and you can thank Donald Trump. Domenico Montanaro from npr says that, “These numbers are all about President Trump. He has inspired deep devotion and intense repulsion, and that is translating to sky-high enthusiasm for voting.” People are no longer voting for the candidate they like, but voting against the candidate they dislike. During this election people have openly admitted that the only reason they are voting is because they don’t like Donald Trump not because they necessarily support Biden. If more people voted for Joe Biden because they don’t like Donald Trump and not because they like Joe Biden and his policies, this can lead to issues down the road. We could have a leader in office that is only there because people didn’t want the other guy there.
On January 6 of this year a mob of people containing mainly Trump supporters charged the U.S. Capitol building in hopes of overturning the results of the election. Donald Trump had given a speech earlier in the day addressing to his supporters about claims of voter fraud and false news. He then ended his speech by saying “So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we’re going to the Capitol, and we’re going to try and give.” Protestors began breaching past gates and over powered security guards. Trump is being accused with inciting a riot on the U.S. Capitol. American citizens committed a crime against their own because their leader told them so. The attention that the media has brought to this election has created danger. The media created an infatuation with Donald Trump and it has caused people to become obsessed with him.
Supporting a presidential candidate has become a personality trait rather than something you do roughly ever 4 years. In today’s society if someone asks you if you support Donald Trump or Joe Biden and you respond with whatever they don’t want to hear they won’t even continue the conversation, they will just shut you out. When people used to talk about politics they would talk about the party they support and the different policies that party wants. Now when anyone wants to talk about politics it always has to be about the candidate themself rather than what they are for or against.
As an 18 year old who voted for the first time in this past election, I would definitely say the atmosphere that has been created has took a tole on my view of American politics. A New Cato National Survey finds that “Nearly two-thirds—62%—of Americans say the political climate these days prevents them from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive.” Our society has created a place where talking about politics and certain politicians is a fear because people have proven that they will take it to the extreme to support a politician or party. I should just be getting interested in politics and wanting to learn and explore more about politics but now I have to make sure that I don’t step on the wrong person’s toes because politics have taken over and consumed our daily lives. “Nearly a third (32%) of employed Americans say they personally are worried about missing out on career opportunities or losing their job if their political opinions became known.” We are supposed to be united but it seems as though politics is where we are most divided.
As a society is it our civic duty to act as proper Americans. After this past election I don’t think we could be more divided as a society. We are divided because we don’t like the same people. In an article from The Washington Post about being more divided than ever Dan Balz says “Trump’s presidency has expanded the values gap between Republicans and Democrats, Blacks and Whites, those with college degrees and those without, those who attend church regularly and those who do not.”Why can’t we come together as a society despite our differences?
