Two years ago, on January 20th 2017, Donald Trump was inaugurated into office. And during that 2016 election season my government teacher, as well as my fellow classmates, couldn’t imagine a world where Donald Trump would be elected president. So here I am over two years later reflecting on that unimaginable world where Trump was in fact elected as president.
During 2016, my teacher always gave my classmates hope that Donald Trump would never win. He would emphasize to us how in the event he won the majority vote he likely still wouldn’t become elected because “that’s what the electoral college is for.” He always – off the grid – reinforced in our minds that the electoral college was made as a safety net for when the population of American citizens were as he said “stupid enough to elect an idiot.” Ironically however, little did we all know the electoral college was going to be the one to elect an objectively incompetent president.
The day after Donald Trump won the election, I remember everyone being extremely depressed and silent in my high school, and the few Trump supporters in my school were of course happier than I’ve ever seen them. During this time, once again, my government teacher was trying to spark some hope in all of his students eyes. He kept telling us we’re not going to be directly affected by it since we have the Senate and the House of Representatives to vote in opposition on any of Trump’s racist or discriminatory policies.
Once again, he was proven false. Little did we know Trump would religiously use executive orders and get the chance to appoint two Supreme Court Justices in just his first term, which doesn’t sound like a lot but when there’s only nine Supreme Court Justices, two makes up 22% of the Supreme Court. To put it in an even bigger perspective, Supreme Court Justices serve until retirement. Meaning that even when Trump leaves office his presidency will still have a lingering influence until his appointed Supreme Court Justices retire.
So now here we are two years later, with a Muslim travel ban, America’s abandonment of the Paris Climate Agreement, a Trade-War with China, a loss of half a percent point of economic growth in just 4 weeks, and lets not forget the infamous longest government shutdown.
It’s safe to say Trump’s presidency will be one that’s definitely remembered – but for the wrong reasons.
In a world where Trump became president I learned how quickly one single man can influence politics. In a world where Trump became president I learned how truly divisive this country was, and how fear is a bigger driving factor in politics than I had previously thought. 
Most importantly, in a world where Trump became president I learned how to use my voice so a man like him is not elected president again, but realistically chances are history will repeat itself again someday – Americans never learn.
Little did I know I’d live in a Trump world.