In the early hours of Nov. 6, Donald Trump claimed victory in the 2024 presidential election, after securing the projected victory in each swing state. In a historic race, Trump won the popular vote for the Republican party for the first time in 20 years in addition to becoming the first convicted felon to hold the nation’s highest office.
Jonny Brinton, a fourth-year political science major, proudly donned a white and blue MAGA hat throughout the day on Wednesday, showing support for his favored candidate.
“I’m very happy, for the world’s sake, that Trump is back in office, because Trump is a leader that is respected and a leader that is feared,” Brinton said. “You don’t want a wimpy pansy in office for the United States of America. You want somebody that people respect, especially if we are to be the peacemakers and kind of the mediator between the rest of the world.”
However, others on campus, like Bailey Pickard, fourth-year biochemistry and philosophy double major, said they feel disappointed by the results and are concerned about Trump’s return to the White House.
“I know dozens of people who are worried that another four years of Trump in the presidency means that their rights are going to be taken away,” said Pickard. “They’re going to be losing access to health care, to gender affirming care, to reproductive care. I mean, I’m afraid for myself to some extent, for sure, as a woman, but I’m also terrified of what this means for so many people who are close to me.”
This sentiment of apprehension surrounding Trump’s policies was echoed by second-year media communication major Liam Sherrill.
“Issues that matter a lot to me are LGBTQ rights and climate change,” Sherrill said. “And those are big on this Project 2025 list, which Trump has denied his involvement with, but his ties to the Heritage foundation are very clear. So I know that those things are on the line with him going into office and that’s my biggest fear.”
For Nico Gamboa, second-year biology major, the fears of others appear to be unwarranted in his opinion.
“I get it because I wasn’t happy in 2020 when Biden became president, but I think it’s just a little dramatic, a little defeatist, because I think ultimately there’s not going to be a whole lot of change in people’s lives that they notice,” he said.
While Gamboa doesn’t believe a noticeable change will occur in many people’s daily lives, he said he is optimistic that positive change will occur where he wants it to, within the economy.
“I think in his last term, the Keystone pipeline, I feel like that was a very positive decision and I think policies like that, getting to energy independence again are going to make a very positive impact on people’s lives and on the prices they experience,” Gamboa said. “People think that’s worse for the climate. I don’t, I personally don’t think it will make a drastic impact on the environment. And I think more important right now is our economy and who we’re paying for fuel and if we’re making our own fuel. I just think that’s a more pressing issue.”
For many Americans religion informs their politics, while they may share the same faith as others, the conclusions they come to starkly differ. However, about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters put their support behind Trump, according to AP VoteCast. Some students are having a hard time grappling with this reality.
“Putting Trump back in office puts this bully on a pedestal again,” Pickard said. “And I feel like that really unfortunately gives Christians kind of the opportunity to step up and say, ‘Hey, we’re not like this. We don’t talk like this. We don’t speak about each other like this.’ And I think we have the opportunity to really be like Jesus and differentiate ourselves from that. But unfortunately, the vote does not give me hope that we will do that.”
Pickard said her lack of support for Trump is a result of her Christian faith.
“As a Christian, it is my job to love and to be with and to care for, the immigrants, the people of color, the women, the queer people, all of the people in our society who are cast out,” she said. “And to me, it does not feel like Trump is going to do any of those things. And so as a Christian, if I’m not voting as if I am loving the vulnerable, I’m not doing what I need to be doing as a Christian. Voting, for me, is voting in the way that most protects the vulnerable people that I know in the United States and outside of the United States.”
On the opposite side of the aisle, Brinton said, he believes that the results of the election exemplify God’s will being carried out.
“I’d love, if I send my kids to school, that they aren’t learning about transgenderism and homosexuality and all these things,” Brinton said. “I would love for them to grow up in a Godly society. And so those are some of the things that I would hope over the next two years that we would see a change in, because I think America is very far off from that right now. I would love to see Godly values restored.”
Brinton’s transparency in his beliefs is an example of his love for others, he said.
“The reason I say the truth as I do is because I love people,” he said. “That’s why I have the values that I do. That’s why I’m as outspoken as I am. If I didn’t love people, I wouldn’t tell them the truth, especially about moral issues. As far as politics, I’m not too invested in economic stuff. I really care about moral issues.”
However, Sherrill said the rhetoric coming from Christians which dehumanizes queer individuals is disheartening; the lack of pushback surrounding it and the election of Trump, feels isolating.
“I don’t know if I’m just missing out on where it is or if no one’s really acknowledging it,” he said. “It feels weird. I think it makes it clear what the majority is here. I think the people who are allowed to pretend like it’s not happening are the ones who just won.”
Charis Johnston 
Angelica Moser