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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Toronto chapter.

During my commute the morning after Donald Trump was affirmed President-elect, I turned out to be unusually mindful of people around me, and a bit discomforted most definitely. Although I am in Canada, I can just envision what that morning resembled for some Americans. As a POC or Muslim, I would be terrified, frightened that I couldn’t look at a white man or woman and wonder if they voted in favor of the man who promises to send me out of the nation and place a “temporary ban” on anybody that looks like me. Although this is a gross speculation of all white individuals, the results unequivocally demonstrate the demographics of the individuals who voted in favor of Donald Trump.

Like a great deal of Hilary supporters, I began the night certain. The pre-election polling done had indicated Hilary Clinton winning by an enormous edge. Looking back, we now understand that every one of those projections were false. As the outcomes came in, everybody began to panic, Florida which appeared to be a given for Hilary because of the Latino vote in the state began to tilt significantly towards Trump. I began to see the red states get redder and It occurred to me, he could win this thing. Did we underestimate him?

As an after-thought, I do trust that the media had significant influence on this race and in some ways perhaps blinded us to the genuine realities of the circumstance. From the demographic of the result, it is plainly obvious who voted in favor of Trump and if one traces back through his campaign you can watch how he perpetuated his message to this group of people.

I have gone through various types of online networking and the two questions people are asking, what does this mean for America? And, how could he have been able to he win?

What does a Trump America look like? Some key angles…

 

Immigration

Trump has been vocal about his migration thoughts and it is clear who he expects to keep out of America. Depicting them as rapists and bad hombres, he clearly promises to deport undocumented migrants living in the states. Not only is this scale of deportation to a great degree going to be expensive for the united states, it would also fuel patterns of islamophobia, prejudice and different types of segregation. To discover how outrageous this could get, how about we do a quick flashback to FDR and the Japanese internment camps, see much of a distinction?

Tax reductions

You get a tax cut, you get a tax cut, everybody gets a tax cut…

That has been Trump’s speech all through the race. He asserts that tax reductions would advance small and large organizations alike and that it would foster economic growth. Furthermore, theoretically, that is valid; decrease cost of production for firms and the incentive to grow your business increases. Be that as it may, what happens to tax revenue? A reduction in revenue notwithstanding other financial variables could lead the Government to run a deficit and eventually decrease Government spending. The question remains, from which division does spending get reduced? Trump has not plainly disclosed how he wants to cut this spending and it would be intriguing to see all through his presidency the groups of individuals who either stand to lose or gain under this financial atmosphere.

Trade

Another law he hopes to pass is a 35% levy on imported auto items from Mexico. This is perfect in principle; that is, when you place duties on imports, you empower domestic production. Although on one hand, we will see a push towards more creation of products in the US, what is more likely to occur is that goods will turn out to be more expensive for American consumers. To overlook the numerous issues with NAFTA and certain neoliberal economic policies, would be purposely ignorant, be that as it may, the instability and radical nature of Trump’s ideas could bring about difficult issues for the US economy and world at large.

How did he win?

Over and over all through history we have perceived how the disregard of the average workers can prompt to turmoil and upheaval. Clearly the average workers are disappointed and individuals feel like they are losing their occupations. Although the racial geographies connected to this are important, that is not the focus of this article. In this race, those workers have been given a voice, Donald Trump. In all certainty individuals were angry with the politics and corruption at Washington and felt like Hilary was a symbol of that corruption. Through out his campaign, Trump, using his boisterous personality made it clear that he was not afraid to offend anyone and this resonated with his supporters. Tragically, most of his supporters had little to no guarantee that voting for him will create the outcomes they desperately need, but in his own words “what do you need to lose?”. The other reason Donald Trump won is because we are not living in post-racial America there’s still bigotry and sexism and homophobia, however I’m sure you already knew that. Likewise, a ton of Trump supporters tend to defend themselves by saying they believe solely in his policies, however I believe that one must originate from a position of privilege to be able to look past his racist and sexist slurs and vote for the most part on “policy”. Notwithstanding, I do trust that me and numerous others like me may have been stuck in this liberal bubble that left us blinded to the genuine convictions of numerous individuals and now it is our duty to educate, participate in discussions yet standing against prejudice, and lastly to ensure those that are vulnerable are not left alone.

Hope

My greatest hope is that his campaign was one major scheme and that he is not as violent and does fully believe all he preached during the election. I hope that this was one big con to get those votes and that he has a plan for this administration, because if not, well, America, the world is watching.

So, remain safe out there, protest but don’t instigate hate, because after all how does that make different from the very individuals we talk ill about.

 

Ibukun is a student at the University of Toronto studying Architecture + Human Geography. She is also in the process of carving out a niche for herself in the design world and hopes to go back to her home country (Nigeria) and make a difference. When she is not trying to take Instagram-worthy pictures of food and buildings, she's at a desk somewhere working on architecture studio projects. You can find her at a networking event, coffee shop or by a desk somewhere writing to-do lists. Check out her personal blog where she explores life as a twenty-something, Youthful Exploration.
Architecture History and Design Double Major and Environmental Geography Minor at the University of Toronto