Dear Editor,

While this is in response to the editorial “Does Trump victory forebode havoc?” I want to be as clear as possible: this is not arguing for Trump. The facts show that he is a racist and a misogynist and not fit to lead the country, and speaking out against him through writing and protests is how this country was designed to express its distrust in the government. The editorial, however, shows the same ignorance it claims to be fighting. This letter is simply a call for greater empathy in our society.

While you do suggest that it was possibly Trump’s personality that blinded voters to his glaring issues, you make your opinion clear that you’re “disgusted” with “uneducated white America” for “exploiting the luxury” to vote for someone like Trump. Because you state that it was “specifically uneducated white America” at fault, I will focus my rebuttal on uneducated white America and ask you to place yourself in their shoes.

Uneducated whites have had their voices pushed to the side in our political system and a prejudice has built up in America against uneducated people. This gave them the necessity, not the “luxury,” to turn to someone who expressed empathy for them, and Trump’s focus on the white working class made them believe he was the only one to help them. Clinton’s lack of focus on the working class resulted in loss in territories Obama won in 2012 such as Iowa, New England, and areas in the Midwest.

In the eyes of uneducated white America, Trump was the lesser of the two evils because he identified with them. While arguing this, I want to continually stress that I’m not arguing that Trump’s views are even remotely decent. The reason he won was because of a mixture of his focus on the working class and Clinton’s lack thereof.

Regardless, the fact that it was Trump and Clinton that won the primaries alone is the perfect demonstration for my belief that we need more empathy in America. Both parties turned to extreme candidates out of America’s growing divide. A lack of moderates in the government and increasing hostility in disputes has led to a shift towards ends of the political spectrum for both parties, which is devastatingly unhealthy for both liberals and conservatives, and by extension, the country as a whole.

This election wasn’t just white America trying to “shake it up at others’ expense” as you put it, but the nation as a whole trying to “shake it up.” Look to Bernie Sanders. His popularity with millennials shows a want for change in the government, and no matter who was elected the shake up would always be at someone’s expense.

While I do fear for the future with Trump as President, it is our duty to recognize that people with different experiences and different lives will always have different opinions than us and their point of view is just as right and true to them as ours is to us. Instead of ignoring and ostracizing people from our political system we need to remain consciences that we don’t pin the blame on any one group, allowing us to focus more on moving the country forward together as a unified nation with a moderate disposition.

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