Ryland Staples | Staff Writer
People usually don’t like to talk about politics. Either it will lead to talking about something unpleasant or just make people angry. However, over the past four years, politics have become a larger part of our daily lives. Since the election of President Trump in 2016, people have been drawing metaphorical lines in the sand when it comes to how people feel about certain political figures.
Before the election of Trump, I feel like people knowingly stayed out of politics because it was either too confusing or they just weren’t interested in it. Even with something as simple as voting, there are lots of people out there who have never even considered voting in elections until now. A good example of this is Kanye West, who notably ran as a write-in candidate during the 2020 election. On election day, he posted a video of himself submitting his ballot, with the caption saying that this was his first time voting in his 43 years of life, a reality more common than people think.
Even during the 2016 election, when the call for mass voting first really got underway, there were still lots of people who either chose to sit out or just write-in some nonsense candidate like Harambe. People didn’t take Trump’s candidacy seriously and just assumed he would lose, which was wrong, and the country as a whole had to spend the last four years dealing with the repercussions.
One reason why people may try to avoid politics is because it just stresses them out. Which is understandable, especially during an election year where candidates are trying to sway voters in every possible way. According to the Pew Research Center, 53% of Americans say that talking about politics with someone who they disagree with is stressful to them. However, due to the things that President Trump has done while in office, it’s become apparent that the people who are to blame are the people who put him in the position in the first place.
Over the past four years, people around the country have come to the realization that politics affects a large facet of our lives. Which is why it has become so frowned upon when people say that they support President Trump. In a way, they are the people who are responsible for the terrible things that have been going on over the past four years. With the presidential election over and the victor decided, President Trump is doing everything in his power to delegitimize the results of the election.
I understand the idea of being together and forgiving one another for mistakes that are in the past, but one of the first things President Trump said on his campaign trail back in 2015 was calling all Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. Voting for a person who openly questions the legitimacy of a global pandemic, as well as calling his political opponents names like a child, just doesn’t sit right with me.
That may seem harsh, but politics has become more than just something that you keep to yourself. I feel like with this new generation of voters, politics have become more of a lifestyle choice for people, shaping the way they live and the way they go through life itself.
The Hampton Script 