Two days after the United States elected Donald Trump as its 45th president, some Westminster College students were devastated and some were jubilant. However, they all agreed on one emotion—shock. Listen to their responses here:
“I know a lot of people are afraid right now. I’m afraid right now, and I’m a teenage girl who’s white and I live in Utah. So I don’t even feel like I have the right to be afraid as so many people do. But just don’t let this fear turn into hatred.” — Hunter Benson, first-year theatre major
“[There are] a lot of opportunities to put forth and really for republicans to step up and show some of the inaccuracies, I believe, that are associated with republicans and conservatives regarding many issues, such as race and the refugee issues that are coming about.” — Grayson Massey, sophomore international business major
“I’m terrified. I’m terrified for the fact that I am a person that holds various marginalized intersecting identities being that I’m black and queer and a woman and a sexual assault survivor.” — Nicole Tyler, junior English major
“I’m rather disappointed. I realize now that I probably should have made much more of an effort to vote.” — Mateo Zapata, junior finance major
“We’ve seen over and over — and black women have been saying it — that white women will put their race before their gender, and this election showed that. And I am like, ‘No way, sister friend. I am not fucking doing that.’” — Leah Weisgal, senior public health major
“It’s also frustrating that — again — the electoral college has allowed someone to win the election without really winning the vote. ” — Sam Thomas, first-year music major
“Trump took down not only the republican establishment, but the two largest dynasties of U.S. politics. First the Bushes — embarrassed them. Destroyed them. And then he took down the Clintons, too.” — Michael von Ballmoos, junior finance major
“When I heard the results, I was really shocked. I think being in a liberal arts college, it’s really hard to get a good hold on what everybody else is thinking because you surround yourself with people who are kind of likeminded to you.” — Si Ning Chan, junior public health major
“Looking back on it, I am not surprised. Racism and white supremacy is a huge issue in our country still. As a woman and as a queer person, I am really scared and I am just trying to recover with my community and work on hopefully fixing some stuff.” — Kate Wilson, first-year nursing major
“It is what it is. We can’t really do that much about it, and it’s up to us to actually make the difference.” — Zachary Lindahl, senior Spanish and geology major
“Honestly, I’m just pretty disgusted at our country and shocked that a misogynistic pig could be elected as our president who has no political experience.” — Molly Karasick, junior Spanish and communication major
“It was quite astonishing. When I went to bed at 11:00 and Donald was winning, I thought I was going to wake up and it was all going to be a scary dream.” — Andy Nassetta, senior communication major
