by Tori Newby ‘22

I was twelve years old when Donald Trump was elected president. Election night, I, along with many others, thought Hillary Clinton would be the winner, but my heart sank when I found out the news the next morning. At school, almost everyone (students and teachers alike) were somber, walking through the hallways with their heads held low in a sense of defeat. I knew it was bad, but I had absolutely no idea what was in store.

The 2016 presidential election was the first time in my life I paid attention to politics. I was four when Obama was elected and eight when he was re-elected; not only was I too young to understand what was going on in the world, but there was no need. To me, he was just The President, purely symbolic, and nothing he did or said seemed to affect me or anyone I knew.

Come 2015 or so, I knew Trump was different. I didn’t know much about his political stances, but many of his actions were unsettling. He objectified women, generalized minorities, and offended world leaders. Nonetheless, the election process continued, and with influence from my liberal family and environment, I became more disgusted with Trump. He cruelly mocked journalists and other politicians, posting offensive Tweets with worse grammar than that of a middle schooler. 

The day after the inauguration, I attended the Women’s March in D.C. with a large group of family and friends, many of whom had driven hours and were staying at our house. We carried handmade posters through the crowds of the city, chanting about equal rights and the president’s already apparent incompetence. The streets were so packed we could barely move, but it was a comfort to know that I wasn’t alone in wanting change. It was a unique experience, but I don’t think I quite understood the magnitude of such a large protest against a newly elected president: that wasn’t normal, and things would only get worse.

At least during the election and the beginning of Trump’s presidency, I still wasn’t even reading the news or checking his Twitter feed; his actions were so outrageous that I simply heard about them in regular conversation. However, as I got older, I began to take initiative and inform myself. Ridiculing his decisions led to an interest in politics, and I started by reading the headlines of the newspaper that lay out on my kitchen table each morning. Forming my own opinions about Trump became an overall interest in what was going on in the world.

The first impeachment trial really drew my attention. It was incredibly complicated, but I knew it was something that would go down in history. I read more than just the headlines and tried my best to follow along: I discovered the names of Trump’s lawyer and the attorney general and constructed opinions about them, and I learned more about the impeachment process and the Constitution. So, maybe I should thank Trump, for making me an aware and knowledgeable citizen.

Four years, two impeachments, and one horrible president later, it seems unreal that there will be someone new in the White House. The last four years have seemed to last my entire life, as I barely remember a time when there was a stable and empathetic president in charge of our country. Although Trump supporters won’t disappear on January 21, it will certainly be refreshing to have a president who cares more about Americans than himself. I know I’m not the only teenager who has started paying attention to politics because of Trump, and I hope that our generation continues to stay informed and involved even with a new president in office. We grew up during a time when so much went wrong, and now we have to stay engaged for things to get better.