By Whether we like it or not, Republican candidate Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election with the popular and electoral vote.
Despite the Democratic Party’s efforts, which included introducing a new candidate four months before the election, they could not compete with the president-elect’s strong personality, which he has cultivated since 2014.
The upcoming years will be hard. There is skepticism over Trump’s economic policies, fear over how he plans to handle immigration and by proxy, undocumented people living in the United States and LGBTQ+ rights.
That being said, there is a positive outcome to the election results.
In 2016, people were angry over the same policies they are angry over now. During Trump’s previous years in the White House, a transformed spirit rose from people’s worries.
They turned their fears and created a culture of unity and consistent scrutiny over every wrong Trump had committed. They did not stop fighting for change.
When President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, people became comfortable. With a Democratic majority in the House, Senate and Oval Office, Americans felt they could relax and that things were finally over.
Unfortunately, this comfortability had allowed people to lose sight of the fight they had worked so hard for four years prior.
During Biden’s presidency, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, there were mass deportations and trans and nonbinary youth lost their right to gender-affirming care.
So much of what Trump and his campaign fought for occurred under the Biden administration, however, because a Democrat occupied the White House, people were not concerned.
Now, America is faced with the same issue. Trump plans to expand on his previous promises, and the Biden administration has opened the door.
Now that he is back in office, these issues will again be on American minds.
People will be reminded of his outwardly spoken policies to restrict Americans’ rights. Unlike Biden, Trump has a vibrant personality, and people listen to what he says regardless of their political background.
It is time to become angry again.
The unity that progressives once had will resurge. It is not because injustices are suddenly occurring but because all eyes are on Trump.
The lesson learned is to avoid getting comfortable. It is crucial to acknowledge those who did not stop the good fight prior to Biden, as they will lead the transition into the next.
If there is one good thing that is to come from the next four years, it is that the spirit for change will reignite.
At the end of it all, Trump cannot run again. These four years will be the final time he circulates the political sphere, and his name will no longer appear on the ballot.
Unfortunately, it will not be the last time someone like Trump will be in American politics. His culture and policies will survive far past his presidency.
So, let us not get too comfortable once again.
