By Diana McElfresh
Editor-In-Chief
St. Bonaventure awoke Wednesday morning to gray skies, drizzling rain and the news of a new president.
With 279 of the required 270 electoral votes, Republican Donald Trump was declared president-elect of the United States around 2 a.m. His main adversary, Hillary Clinton, won 228 electors.
Students received the news with mixed emotions.
Senior journalism and mass communication major Dan Cowan, a Canadian resident, said the election showed him America’s true colors.
“This election has shown me that even though not all Trump supporters are bigots and misogynists, the fact that he won validates those values in this country,” Cowan said. “If you’re not a bigot, then you shouldn’t have voted for such intolerance.”
He said Trump’s promise to end the North American Free Trade Agreement worries him as a Canadian.
“As much as there are problems with the agreement, it is a big staple in the North American economy. The deal is there for the benefit of everyone, not just the U.S.,” he said. “By eliminating it, it just screws over everyone in an attempt to make America the driving economic force it wants to be.”
Cowan further questioned Trump’s legitimacy as a candidate.
“It baffles me that someone with literally no political experience could be elected against such a competent candidate [like] Clinton,” he said.
Victoria Soler, a junior political science major, currently studying in Prague, said some Czech people she has encountered feel the despair of Trump’s impending presidency.
“I’ve talked to a bunch of people in high school about it, because I volunteer with them,” she said. “A lot of them think elections are important — they take it pretty seriously even though it’s not their country, because they understand the repercussions.”
As for how they feel about President-Elect Trump, Soler said, “They all know he’s an idiot.”
Christina Root, a junior journalism and mass communication major and an editor for The Bona Venture, is studying in England this semester.
She said the English are viewing the election with some amused trepidation.
“[They’re] kind of agitated and stressed out, but also finding it very humorous and comparing it to Brexit a lot,” she said. “People aren’t really, surprisingly, openly outraged or shocked, but they ask how I feel like four or five times a day, and when I tell them we’re pretty upset, they kind of reflect the same thing.”
Sophomore Rachel Pelsang, a bioinformatics major and president of College Republicans, said she has a positive outlook for the future.
“The presidential election results were definitely surprising. No one predicted this outcome,” Pelsang said. “Today, I remain optimistic that conservative policies will focus on issues like balancing the budget, reduced government spending, tax reforms and other issues weighing heavily on Americans.”
Sophomore journalism and mass communication and political science double major, Sam Gier, said the election wouldn’t be the end of America.
“I think the country has checks and balances for a reason. I think it’s an exaggeration that the world is ending and we are all going to lose all of our basic civil rights,” she said.
Gier said Americans must accept their commander-in-chief.
“It is our duty as citizens, whether we like it or not, to accept the president and support him,” she said. “I will support him as president, and I will want him to succeed. That doesn’t mean I voted for him.”
She said that disagreeing with a politician’s platform doesn’t mean gridlock in government is a solution to stop that politician.
“[Gridlock] has killed politics before and will keep killing it until we find a solution,” Gier said.
As for many Americans’ vows to move to Canada? Cowan doesn’t buy it.
“I don’t think many Americans will actually go through with moving to Canada. If they do, it will be mostly young people, as they don’t have the responsibility of staying grounded in one spot with a family to support,” he said. “I think most people will stick around to see if the Trump presidency will actually be all that bad.”
mcelfrdh14@bonaventure.edu
