This is the way the world ends/This is the way the world ends/This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper.” (“The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot)

This Tuesday, half of the nation mourned when one of the most repugnant men imaginable became president of the United States of America. I was shocked. Donald Trump is racist, sexist, homophobic, narcissistic and all in all against what I thought America was working for: tolerance and equality. A country for everyone. For decades we have been slowly moving forward, achieving equal rights for people of all races and genders. Now we have taken 100 steps back.

Trump pulled ahead in the polls quickly, but I refused to give up hope. I compared past election maps and tried to make sure Hillary was still on track. She was behind him, but that was just because some of the more influential states had not been counted yet, and of course they would go with Hillary. Or so I thought. Then Florida sided with Trump and I began to panic. They were with Obama for both of his elections—what was happening now? Iowa, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio—they all flipped. Ohio, you just lost the World Series and now you dropped the ball again. Going through a rough patch? Do you need to talk to someone?

I never expected Trump to make it this far. Most of us thought he was a joke since the beginning, but he just kept slipping through each level until somehow he ended up on top. The United States now looks like a joke to every other country.

Our age group is affected the most by this election. If Trump gets re-elected, we will be near our 30s when we elect a new president. We will go through the prime of our lives with this bigot running our country. If he starts a war, it will be us that fighting in it. Some of us will be getting married and having kids in Donald Trump’s America. And what about the children now? Little girls will hear the history of their president’s attitudes on sexual assault—what will they think their role is in society? How will children learn to act towards women, minorities and LGBTQIA* people with this man running our government?

I thought that the majority of Americans had moved beyond the kind of hate Trump preaches. I thought that the racism and sexism that was once the foundation of our country was fading away. I thought that a man this full of hatred would never get broad based support today. That is what I am most upset about from this election. Not so much that Trump is president, but that the majority of America can listen to him spew out intolerance and think he is the candidate most able to run our country. There are term limits, we will get rid of Trump eventually, but when will we get rid of the hatred that is so widespread through our country?