On January 20th, 2029 the 48th President of the United States of America will be inaugurated. Trump’s second term as President will come and go. Contrary to what people on both sides claimed throughout their respective campaigns, this result is not existential: a Trump victory is not an extinction level event for the American Republic.
Yes, there are faults in Trump’s character that should not be overlooked. It is preferable to not to have someone who is a convicted felon, was impeached twice and in the week of the election consistently had a favorability rating at less than 45 percent be elected to the position of Commander in Chief, but that is the reality of the current American political landscape.
The fact is that Harris was a candidate who often struggled to explain her own policies and distance herself from some of the more radical aspects of the Democratic Party that she supported during her failed presidential primary run in 2019. To many swing voters, including myself, the most appealing thing about Harris was not positive aspects of her campaign or her record as a long-time politician, but that on the ballot she was “not Trump.”
In 2024, being “not Trump” was not enough for Harris to win a race she entered only four months prior after a coronation from the Democratic party in which no votes were cast for her.
To those who voted for and supported Harris: you have lived under a Donald Trump presidency once, it will be okay a second time. You will survive a second term and may even be better off for it.
Trump won because Americans in battleground states prioritized personal economic prospects, securing the southern border and a foreign policy platform of strength rather than deterrence.Voters didn’t care as much about other prescient issues like abortion and the truly terrifying spectacle that was Jan. 6th, 2021.
Trump’s election is largely a result of the cultural pendulum swinging back towards the right and a staunch opposition to the wokeness epidemic that deeply penetrated institutions of the American left like CNN, the New York Times and elite college campuses across America like Cornell. The blowback to progressivism was evident in the fact that not only did the Republicans win the popular vote for the first time in 20 years, they took a decisive Senate majority and look primed to emerge with a majority in the House of Representatives.
I hope that the large majority of Cornellians, regardless of their political alliances, are able to accept this result in the same way they would if Harris had emerged victorious. Unexpectedly canceling a Freshman Writing Seminar hours after the result became official due to “needing time to reflect on what has happened” as at least one Cornell professor has done is a privilege one only obtains by living in a nation as successful and prosperous as contemporary America. Actions like that send a poor message about giving up after tough losses or unexpected defeats. Tuition paying students deserve better.
Acting as if this result is a catastrophe benefits no one. It will not improve your day-to-day life to act hysterical over the presidency, you will only be worse off for expending negative energy on something out of your control and in the hands of the American electorate. Save this energy for the candidate of your choice in four years.
I would like to pose a question to the Harris supporters at Cornell: do you seriously think your life will become substantially materially worse with Trump in office than it was under Biden or would have been under Harris? Was your life on Nov. 5th, 2024 materially better than it is on Nov. 6th, 2024, or will be on Jan. 20, 2025? And even if the answer to both those questions is yes, how many believe this is directly due to the policy and cultural changes enacted by the president? My assumption is very few.
At Cornell, a predominantly liberal university from the top down, political activism is almost guaranteed to spike in response to Trump’s victory. Taking to the streets, or submitting op-eds to The Sun to express concerns over Trump’s policies or character can be a productive political activity. But I would argue that the majority of alarmist messaging about Trump has already begun to proliferate within the media. This genre of content is far more destructive due to its ability to polarize than the person and ideas it is trying to confront.
This is not to say that who holds the presidency does not matter. Who the President is, for better or worse, shapes the international perspective of our country and influences domestic policy.
The American republic is not doomed. America under Trump, no matter how much Harris (and previously Biden) claimed, will not be a fascist, authoritarian state. Trump did not pursue the presidency to become a Hitlerian dictator. If you are in disbelief over this result, I urge you to get outside of your comfort zone and meet people outside of your bubble — it will be enlightening to truly listen to those who you disagree with.