I think the whole country is waiting with baited breath for January 20th when Trump becomes president, and I'm worried this split in our nation will become much more divided in the years to come. Both sides have such strong stereotypes and prejudices of the other that there isn't much conversation. Of course the party lines always were there with political commentary, cartoons, and the such, but there were always centrists pulling us together. Now I fear those people are pushed out.

For example, I think we can all agree there were a motley of reasons why people voted for Clinton because she wasn't a popular candidate. So instead of believing her message, some voted for her because they didn't like Trump. Or because they're Democrat. Or they're for gun control. What disturbs me is the New Yorkers and other urbanites I surround myself with can't recognize that for Republicans. Trump wasn't a popular candidate either. Hell, he lost the election by two million. So people who voted for Trump also did it for a variety of reasons: They didn't like Clinton, they're Republicans, they wanted to shake up Washington and Clinton was an old guard candidate, they're pro-life. Yeah, there were definitely racists out there who voted for Trump, don't get me wrong, but if I hear someone say they did I'm not going to automatically assume it was because of bigotry. This is anecdotal evidence on my part, but when I went across country this year and I talked with people from Montana, the Dakotas, Kansas — very red states — they seemed very disgusted with Trump. But for them, just as for many people who voted for Clinton, he was the lesser of two evils.

Now for my standpoint, Clinton was an infinitely better candidate than Trump. She wasn't the best, but I've known her and the country has known her for decades. She was a competent senator of my state and an able Secretary of State for my country. Yeah, there were questionable practices around the Clinton Foundation, and if the Republicans were able to produce someone fucking normal maybe I would've considered that person instead, but anything she's done has paled in comparison to what I've seen with Trump. I can't imagine anyone voting for him.

But almost half of the voters did. People like Trump aren't elected out of nowhere. There's a reason. So you have to talk to the other side to figure out why. Maybe they are sexist or racist. Or maybe it's because Trump was the first person in a long, long time who addressed their issues. Yeah, poor whites don't face the same problems as blacks, but that doesn't mean their suffering isn't real too. Or maybe with the Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage and such is changing the country too fast for them. In New York we're complaining about gentrification as a change, so you can understand how it can be scary to see what you're accustomed to just disappear.

I'm not saying talking to the other side will necessarily change minds, but at least you're not looking at the person as a human being. For years and years I've heard people in foreign policy saying cutting ties with North Korea or Iran didn't help much and just led to decades of stagnancy. Maybe that's the case here. People are whining about the Electoral College, but you're not going to change the law without the support of smaller states, who are the ones who voted for Trump. It's a reality you have to deal with. Instead of saying, "If you voted for Trump, unfollow me" or "Anyone who likes Clinton is a traitor," ask why. Because we're all Americans. We have to live with one another. That's the beauty of a democracy. And if we're angry at congress that it's not compromising with the other side, how can we ask that of them if we're not doing the same?