Roy Tang

Polls open in 3 hours. I find myself unable to sleep.

The past few days I’ve toned my social media posts and tried to tell myself that I can live with whoever the public decides to elect. That I will think positively, and support him when he does well, and call him out when he does not. But now I find my guts feel sick when I think about who the public is likely to elect.

The man stands for violence and authoritarianism. Not only is change coming, change is already here. The campaign period has changed our country, and the change is for the worse. His supporters openly and proudly threaten violence against anyone who disagrees with their opinion. There are even reports of others being threatened or harassed in real life simply for harassing other candidates. They either knowingly spread misinformation and half-truths, or can’t be bothered to verify the information they’re spreading. Forget about being a good example for kids, he’s not even a good example for adults.

I know I shouldn’t judge other people for the choices they make, but I can’t help but be disappointed when people I know come out in support for the man, people who I believe should know better, who should hold better values. I don’t understand how they could justify supporting him in spite of his violent rhetoric and the significantly good chance that he’s a murderer. It changes how I see these people

I would like to remain hopeful. I would like to hope that one of the other candidates manages some sort of miracle (hopefully of the legal kind) and overcomes the odds. Barring that, I would like to hope that I am wrong about him and that the worst-case scenario does not come to pass. I would like to hope that he would not push our society further in the direction of violence and authoritarianism. I would like to hope that the supporters do not become even more insufferable in the wake of victory. I would like to hope that we can move past the level of vitriol and toxicity throughout this campaign peri