This week has been a solemn, hard week for many people. I remember being 14 in an Applebee’s when I witnessed the live results showcasing Trump’s win. I’ve been a Bernie Sanders supporter since I first started getting into politics, and I remember feeling crushed when he wasn’t chosen as the 2016 Democratic nominee. Nonetheless, I had faith that we as a country would prevent a Trump presidency. I’m 22 now, feeling 14 and helpless again.
A lot of us know people who voted for Trump this year, but some are in relationships with those people. My question to you is, why? Not only why, but how? How can you stay in a relationship with someone who willingly — happily, even — casted a vote against your rights? Against women’s rights? Someone who has actively called for the removal of birthright citizenship, who has invited speakers onto his platform to trash minorities, whose VP actively supported the claim that Haitians were committing vicious crimes against their neighbors, a claim that was debunked over and over again by various news outlets.
I want to clarify that this isn’t a dig at people who are in relationships in which they are dependent on their partner, whether financially or otherwise. This also isn’t for people who voted for Trump; that’s a whole different type of nut that needs a lifetime of self-reflection and cannot be cracked at this time. This is specifically aimed at people who are capable of leaving their relationships, but choose to stay with someone who doesn’t respect them or their rights.
There was a trend on TikTok recently, something about canceling out the vote of someone in their life. Many people exposed their partners for voting for Trump, but ultimately stayed in the relationship. To be so aware of the lack of care your partner has for anyone but themselves, just to stay in the end? I need you to look in the mirror and contemplate if the child in you, the one who dreamed of the perfect partner, one that would protect them and defend them through and through — would that child be proud of your choices? Is the person you’re dating — the one that voted for a man who was found liable for sexual abuse — someone you would want around little you?
I just can’t fathom how you can continue to love someone who so obviously does not love you. If you voted for Harris to cancel out your partner’s Trump vote, you need to stand by your morals and leave them. You deserve better. You deserve someone who will stand up for you and for others, too.