It’s morning in America again — a new day. I can’t help but be reminded of the political climate in Israel when Prime Minister Menachem Begin won for the first time. The Labor Party elite was sure of its impending victory and its ability to maintain control over the government, and it downplayed the role of the working class. Just as the Likud Party shocked the Labor elite in 1977, the victory of Donald Trump in America’s 2016 presidential election shocked America. 

While the comparison between Begin and Trump may not be the perfect analogy, the surrounding political climate is largely evocative. The majority of media outlets were convinced of Hillary’s victory and even convinced me of this reality. Those of us who are absolutely shocked by the election results need to contend with the circumstances that led to a Trump victory. Additionally, we need to be more cognizant of our tendency toward groupthink, which has been partially influenced by America’s slanted media. Groupthink, as it manifests itself on this campus, squashes independent thinking by suppressing dissenting opinions, thereby created a space where most people, outwardly, seem to be in agreement. 

As an anti-Trump conservative, the results of the election are disappointing yet understandable. In order to begin to understand the next four years, it is important to understand what led to this result. First, to categorically say that anyone who voted for Trump is a racist, misogynist and uneducated individual is intellectually dishonest. Instead of looking inward to see what problems are prevalent in the Democratic Party, the Obama Administration or liberal ideology, many instead seek a scapegoat to explain the Trump phenomenon. 

This is obviously not to say that there are not any racists, misogynists or uneducated people among Trump supporters, but whether they are the majority of his voters is still unknown. It is time to realize that Trump is our president-elect. He won despite lacking significant Republican-establishment support and backlash against his myriad gruesome statements. These circumstances only highlight the overwhelming concerns and fears of many middle-class Americans, and to discredit these concerns outright would be a mistake. In order to disregard those aforementioned setbacks and cast a vote for Trump, working-class Americans needed to be convinced of their better future with Trump policies than with Clinton policies. 

Moreover, an aversion to Clinton after the various components of her email scandal made it difficult to support her. Whether because of conflicts of interest between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department or her naivete in dealing with classified information, she was far from the ideal candidate for the Democratic Party. In other words, frustrations over the past eight years have allowed for the rise of Trump.

Not unique to the United States, there is a growing global fear over secure borders, migration and national demographics. Is it legitimate to condemn Trump’s statements on Mexicans and Muslims? Without a doubt. However, that does not excuse the American people from engaging with the concept of tighter borders. 

Many working-class people are tired of illegal immigration, have lost their jobs and have genuine national security concerns. Every candidate claims to stand for secure borders, but looking back on the past eight years, Americans are frustrated with the number of illegal immigrants entering this country.  In 2010, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that eight million illegal immigrants were in the workforce, taking jobs that people here legally could be doing. All I ask is that instead of exclusively demonizing the Trump supporter, we try to put ourselves in their shoes. Should Democrats fail to comprehend the factors which led to a Trump victory, they are doomed to continue to lose elections. If you were a working-class individual who lost your job to an illegal immigrant willing to do it for less, you would be frustrated. If you observe the lack of assimilation among immigrants from the Middle East to European countries, you might have a sense of fear for your own neighborhood. If you shared these concerns, you would not be alone — this is the constituency that supported Trump. In fact, on March 1, The Atlantic published findings that issues like immigration are at the top of Trump supporters’ agendas. 

Additionally, from the perspective of Republicans, the future of the Supreme Court is not one to be ignored. In a time of increased polarization between liberals and conservatives, overlapping in a time where multiple Supreme Court seats may open up over the next four years, Americans were required to make tough choices. While many conservatives disavowed Trump, many are frightened by the prospects of a liberally leaning Supreme Court. SCOTUS will likely hear more cases on gun control, abortion and potentially even free speech. For many Americans, these issues are of the utmost importance, and it behooves every voter to imagine a candidate who will appoint a justice who will uphold one’s vision of America. If you are an American who fears your 2nd Amendment right may be in jeopardy, or who fears a fluid moral compass on the Court, or even fears a court that legislates from the bench in general — you are not alone. You do not have to be racist, sexist or ignorant to place a high level of importance on these issues. While Trump certainly will not be the best president in American history, it is important not to denigrate these very real considerations. The picture that the Democratic Party establishment sought to paint of Trump supporters, while having some truth to it, was too often incomplete. This picture frequently ignored these aforementioned voters that have very real concerns.

Many students scroll through their Facebook newsfeeds only to find statements telling Trump voters that they are racist and demanding that anyone who voted for Trump unfriend them. What is the benefit in that? Where is the intellectual discourse? You might be wondering, “Are Trump supporters capable of intellectual discourse?” If you are, then you are guilty of the phenomenon I am describing here. 

A person should not dehumanize and belittle their opponent so much that political opinions are significant enough to compromise a friendship. That kind of  mentality leads to intellectual insulation, not discourse. If you surround yourself exclusively with people who share your political views and refuse to engage the other side, you may have been convinced of the impending Hillary victory, just as I was. All of your friends may have supported her, your newsfeed was covered with pro-Hillary posts before Election Day and the media you follow has been ferociously anti-Trump. But now the cognitive dissonance is hopefully sinking in. You realize now that the bubble is only so thick and that now you have no choice but to engage with the other point of view. The insulated safe space you have created rejects opinions that differ from your own as categorically deplorable. 

Instead of rejecting opinions that you do not hold or the people that hold them, engage. Try to understand the other side, and maybe they will try to understand you as well. Only once we legitimate the concerns of the other side can we begin working on a better tomorrow. 

While the election results may be far less than ideal, all hope is not lost. These next four years can be a time of intellectual debate and discourse, where we reject hyper-partisanship for progress and prosperity. Not only four years from now but also two years from now, we ought to continue to go to the polls and make our voices heard for the future.