An eager goodbye to the Trump administration.
BY: MARY WILSON
Opinions Editor
On Election Day in 2016, after the race had been called in favor of Donald Trump, I felt deflated. I felt hopeless. I felt like I had been lied to. Most of all, perhaps, I felt scared.
I was right to be scared. From one unprecedented event to the next (I’ve never wanted to live in precedented times so much), I felt my heart sink more and more. I read live coverage of the Muslim Ban in between classes. I saw fundraisers for the American Civil Liberties Union pop up on my Facebook feed with increasing frequency. Help us, the text seemed to say. We need your help more than ever.
From one Executive Order to the next, I felt like my world was unraveling. Push notifications from news apps on my phone kept me updated on the President’s Twitter account. I wanted to turn the notifications off, but I felt like I needed to be aware.
If I couldn’t do anything else, at least I didn’t have my head in the sand.
Again, and again, and again, and again.
The ban on transgender members of the military. Withdrawing from treaties and agreements. Separating migrant children from their parents, and then, as if it couldn’t get worse, the starting of “tender age” shelters.
Again, and again, and again, and again.
After four long years, America said “Enough!”
Record voter turnout—even in the midst of the
worst pandemic in 100 years—propelled Joe Biden to victory. We all know what happened next. Like a story being read aloud one too many times, we know the words.
Despite Trump’s best efforts, a new president was sworn in.
After the train wreck that was noted homophobe and bigot Vice President Mike Pence, we have a new Vice President—Kamala Harris, a woman of color.
To say I am excited for the next four years would be an understatement. Mainly, though, I’m relieved.
I feel like I can finally take a deep breath.
I’m unsure what the next four years will bring. While Joe Biden was not my first choice out of the horde of democrats who entered the race, I am eager to wish him well.
This doesn’t mean that I’m going to give the Biden/Harris administration a free pass for whatever they want to do. As a journalist—as an active participant in our democracy—I need to do more.
The other day, while I was cleaning off the stacks of books and paper and piles of broken pencils off my desk in preparation for the spring semester beginning, I wandered out to the kitchen with another armload of papers for the recycling bin. I paused to listen to one of the talk shows my mom keeps on during the day for noise.
One of the talk show hosts was talking about putting country over party.
While I’ve only ever voted for Democrats (and with the way the Republican party is headed, I can’t see myself voting for a Republican anytime soon), I still feel an obligation to my country.
Even though the Democrats won—even though Trump is out of office—our work is not done. Biden isn’t perfect, and while I’m excited for something closer to stability rather than the tumultuous events of the past four years, I’m going to continue to stand up and fight for what’s right.
For now, though, I’m excited to say: SEE YA!
