I think it’s safe to say that last Tuesday night was pretty intense for everyone. A huge amount of people I know had believed that former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was going to win the election, even those who wanted President-elect Donald Trump to take the win. So, when Trump did win, the reactions of our country were extreme.

To put it bluntly, I was extremely disappointed. I have never and don’t think I can ever bring myself to support Trump; his economic policies, misogynistic, racist and xenophobic views and the way he ran his presidential campaign simply don’t align with my personal values. I was incredibly excited to support Hillary Clinton as our first female president, and I fully expected her to win. After all, based on past election results and polls, the path to presidency for Clinton appeared a lot less complicated than the path for Trump.

However, I believe that Trump won the election because working-class Americans chose to vote for him rather than the Democratic candidate, who they had previously voted for in the past. These blue-collar votes made all the difference, specifically in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.

And, I don’t think that these blue-collar votes necessarily stemmed from a direct and valued trust in Trump, but rather a distrust in Clinton. As shown in our own school’s survey, neither candidate was genuinely loved by the general public as a whole. Out of 1,146 students, 51 percent believed that both presidential candidates “sucked.” Obviously, Trump seemed to suck less to the American people.

With an all-Republican federal government, including the House and Senate, I’m genuinely scared that Trump has the opportunity to pass some of his outrageous policies. While I understand that a large number of conservatives typically don’t agree with Trump’s views and policies, the opportunity for infiltration is still present because of this great GOP influence.

Now, I recognize the anger occurring within our country right now. In fact, I agree with it. I’m angry with the results of the election and I’m angry that people simply cannot see the wrongdoings of Trump. This systematic divide within our people was expected and I can’t condone stopping the protests occurring within our major cities. People are upset, and this is expected. But, there comes a time when protests simply are not enough. No matter how hard we push, Trump is still going to be our president.

So, instead of blaming the system and the people and our country as a whole, we should stand together to promote love. This sounds juvenile, I know, but this presidential election as a whole ultimately fed off of hate and mistrust; Clinton supporters and Trump supporters began hating each other, creating a divide within our America that will take more than a decided election to heal. In order to fix this, we need to move together as a country, Democrats and Republicans alike, so that we may close these societal gaps that have arisen.

Yes, I’m upset with the results of the election. And yes, as of now, I can’t support Trump as our country’s president. But, I do accept him as our president and do believe the rest of our country should as well so that we may move towards a more unified democracy, reiterating the great American values instilled in our country 240 years ago.