Tuesday night the world watched as Americans proved everyone right, we really are dumb. With Vice President Kamala Harris taking over President Joe Bidens campaign with only 4 months left before the big day, people began to feel something they hadn’t felt in American politics in a long time, hope. This was an opportunity to show women the capabilities they hold and exactly what they can achieve, instead we have shown boys that they can lie, cheat, rape women and still oversee an entire country. 

Our constitutional rights were on the line this election and we stepped on the wrong side of it. For the people who voted red, independent, or simply did not exercise their right this election, you should not feel proud for doing right by your party because you simply did not. The Republican party states the following in their key values, “The GOP platform will restore the American dream through economic growth, protecting constitutional freedoms, and ensuring election integrity.” Former President Trump has not successfully exemplified a single one of these values. With his multiple bankruptcies, support for the overturn of constitutional rights, claims of electoral fraud as well as his national threats if the election is not in his favor, Trump is the most un-American American there is. 

Women all over have set into action with 10 states having Reproductive rights on the ballot this year. Seven of the 10 states have implemented some measure that will for the most part guarantee women safety within their state from the constant threat reproductive rights are currently under. Despite Trumps recent statement that he will “protect women” whether they “like it or not,” he was one of the many who voted in Florida against the amendment which stated the following, “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” So, for those who wholeheartedly believe he has your best interest in mind I assure you, he does not. Plans to remove funding from low-income schools are just another promise that exemplify his constant lack of regard towards anyone he does not value as a citizen. After asking local Title I school (which Trump plans to defund) educator, Lawrence Jehnert his thoughts on the new Presidential elect, here is what he had to say, “I can tell you that our Title I school will not be functional without the federal funds allocated to us each school year. These funds provide enhanced educational materials, additional professional support personnel, and extended day extra-curricular opportunities. Title I funds aim to create an equitable education for impoverished students, providing the necessary supports to level the playing field. A Title I school void of funding will not flounder; it will flat out fail.” Jehnert then followed by describing the feelings during these unprecedented times as “unnerving, unsettling, and uncomfortable.”  

Because the fact of the matter is no matter how much you “care” for others or your country, by voting for hate you too have shown that you do not care enough to keep someone out of office who sees no value in our nation’s differences. 

Seen below are statements from young female voters on how they feel after this week’s results. 

Cezanne Maragni, 21 years old, Long Beach Island, New Jersey 

“I feel so embarrassed to live in a country that has “prided” itself on freedom and human rights when now we just elected a president who is a convicted felon, a racist, a fraud and a liar. How this is even allowed is astonishing and sickening to me. I am deeply sorry, ashamed, and disgusted that we have failed so many children, women, people of minorities, etc. because we allowed a man who has continuously failed so many of us to run and then proceed to be elected as president. Women before us have fought so incredibly hard to finally get a voice just for it to be taken away decades later. I’m sorry to the women who continuously must fight for their lives to get an abortion because people voted for a woman hater and rapist over a women’s right to their own body. Trump has said he is pro-choice in the past yet voted “no” towards abortion rights in Florida. He is a liar. He has never cared about our rights and never will and people will soon realize that. We have let a president who cares more about guns than children in schools who are being shot at to get back into office.  Republicans are more worried about kids learning about safe sex and gender equality than the guns that kill them before they even get a chance to turn double digits. It’s horrifying and sad that this is our country. I am scared but we have fought against him before and we can again. I know we are all feeling discouraged, but we cannot lose our drive to continue to fight.” 

Sydney Reif, 21 years old, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia 

“I woke up this morning and my stomach dropped. I am disgusted and devastated. I had so much hope that we would finally have a woman as our President. Instead, people decided they wanted to elect someone whose whole campaign and personality is full of hate, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia and racism. I am deeply saddened for all the women in America that will not have rights to their own body. I can’t wrap my head around how the world could vote for a convicted felon, rapist, bigot (the list goes on), as our president. I’m all over the place trying to figure out why people would do this. But it’s very simple. They are privileged, selfish individuals who think of no one but themselves and their bank accounts. They trust in a man who does not care about anyone but himself. They would let women and trans people die if it meant they get a check. They don’t “not care”. They just care about “the economy” more than human lives.

I voted for women and all those who want to feel safe in this country. I voted for equality and the right to my own body. I am ashamed of everyone who decided to vote for a manchild with no morals. This is just another example of countless times that men can get away with anything and still be the most powerful person in the world.  There is so much more I could say, but at the moment I am very sad.”

“America deserved Kamala Harris as our President. America deserved so much better.”  

Abigial Hennessey, 21 years old, Bel Air, Maryland 

“I am at a loss of words. This morning, we found out just how great the ignorance in our country is and how far some can go without considering the less privileged, and in fact harming them more. Women with restricted abortion access, minorities living in poverty––all of them were failed––so that the already privileged could become even more so. There wasn’t a single woman with a smile on her face when I went to get coffee this morning in Brooklyn. I would love to sit here and say none of the men looked happy either, but unfortunately that did not seem like the case. They may have voted for Harris and already forgot about it, voted for her and don’t personally understand the repercussions her loss will have, or voted for Trump and have some delusion of happiness for the money he will apparently save them. 

And in the coming days, the election won’t be overthrown. Harris’s supporters know how a democracy works. All the while, Trump will await his sentencing on the 26th for 34 counts of undermining those very principles.”