The topic of Donald Trump’s presidential reception is one I’ve been itching to cover. I think every non-Trump-supporting individual has at some point in the last two years thought to themselves: I wonder if the people who voted for Trump regret doing so today. My findings proved the assumption that I’d already made before beginning my research: Yes.
As a disclaimer, I am not a political guru — I would never claim to be — but I am going to start by giving my take on the 2016 presidential election. We had two less-than-wonderful candidates — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump — who both spent the presidential debates throwing grenades at each other rather than convincing the American population that they would be good leaders for our country. It appears to me that the majority of this country based their election decision on how “funny” and callous Trump is to other people. What has he accomplished in nearly two years? What has he promised to do by the end of his four years? Whatever it may be, will it be enough to outweigh the division of our country? It appears his blunt and abrasive appeal has worn off because the country is becoming increasingly impatient for answers to these questions. This sparked my curiosity: Do Americans regret voting for Donald Trump?
I headed over to the New York Times to see if there was any buzz surrounding this topic that may be of interest to me, and of course, I was at no shortage of findings. In an article published just over six months ago, Sydney Cohan of Westwood, New Jersey blatantly admits: “I voted for Donald Trump, and I regret it!”(1) Cohan expresses deep concern for the future of her children, explaining to NY Times, “I never imagined he would divide this country with lies and racism, bigotry and hate. Democracy will die if they [the Republican Party] continue.”
Cohan was not the only one who expressed regret to the NY Times for helping to elect Donald Trump as president. Tad Durrance of Ormond Beach, Florida wrote: “My vote for Donald Trump was less for him than it was against his opponent.” Durrance claimed to have liked the idea of an outsider coming into the office and uniting the country through a “unique perspective” — an idea he admits blew up in his face. Durrance says, “I now feel that he’s squandered it…he keeps focusing his attention on inconsequential nonsense.”
What “inconsequential nonsense,” you may ask? If you are not much of a media buff, you may not have encountered the senseless pastime our president is known for on the web. I am of course referring to the statements Trump has made and the time he has subsequently wasted during his time in office on the popular social media platform “Twitter.”
I like the idea of having a president who will be honest, blunt, and humorous when it is appropriate. I would say having a president with character is very important for our country. Once Trump graced the office, there should have been some precedence placed on getting things spinning in the right direction. After all, he’d all but implied that his predecessor had left things massively out of shape from the previous eight years. However, it appears wasting time has been of most concern to our beloved “leader.” But what kind of reaction is this pastime earning him? His controversial remarks are beginning to outrage some of his very own supporters.
As far as backlash goes, comments on social media are hardly the tip of the iceberg. It is not only average citizens who want nothing to do with Donald Trump or his presidency — apparently, the resentment for Trump and his policies has reached his own home: the White House itself. An article published by New York Magazine in June of 2018 titled “No One Wants to Work at the White House So It’s Having a Job Fair” explains the extent of this blatant anti-Trump movement in greater detail. Written by Adam Raymond, the article explains how a typically “hot” job could need so much parading: plain and simple, “Nobody wants to come in.”(2) Hesitation is not the usual response for open positions within the White House. In the article, Politico, another political news publication, spoke to an Obama administration official who said that “they [the administration] didn’t even bother to list jobs when they opened up in the White House” due to high interest. It sounds as if the job fair, held in June of this year, had been sparsely attended– not at all surprising with the amount of hate our president is receiving.
He has even managed to disappoint one of his most prominent supporters, Julius Krein. Krein, founder and editor of the pro-Trump political journal “American Affairs,” criticized Trump last year for failing to fulfill campaign promises. In an article by Time Magazine, written by Katie Reilly, Krein admits that he regrets his vote. Krein states, “after more than 200 days in office, Mr. Trump’s behavior grows more reprehensible. Meanwhile, his administration has no significant legislative accomplishments — and no clear plan to deliver any.”(3) Krein expresses frustration with Trump’s greater focus on his media presence: “Far from making the transformative ‘deals’ he promised voters, his only talent appears to be creating grotesque media frenzies.” “It is clear that we were deluding ourselves,” Krein wrote, about the hopes he and other Trump supporters had early-on in the election — “He continues to prove his harshest critics right.”
Although an unpopular opinion (for now) — as around 82 percent of Trump supporters say they would not change their vote if given the opportunity — U.S. News reported in October of 2017 that “7 percent of voters in the 2016 presidential election would vote for another candidate and 5 percent would not vote at all.”(4) This result, while still favoring Trump, indicates some “softening in his support since April (2017)”, when a Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 96 percent of Trump voters said they had made the right decision, with just 2 percent expressing regret. My thoughts on that: Baby steps are still an improvement. Who knows where those percentages will be within the next two years of Trump’s sure-to-be-short-lived term.
Header photo courtesy of www.junkee.com
1. Lott, Joshua. “I Voted for Donald Trump, and I Regret It.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/opinion/trump-voters-who-regret-it.html. Jan 18, 2018. Accessed 23 July 2018.
2. Raymond, Adam. “No One Wants to Work at the White House So It’s Having a Job Fair on Friday.” New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/no-one-wants-to-work-at-the-wh-so-its-having-a-job-fair.html. June 14, 2018. Accessed on 23 July 2018.
3. Reilly, Katie. “Prominent Supporter of President Trump Admits He Regrets His Vote.” Time Magazine. http://time.com/4906054/julius-krein-donald-trump-vote-regret/. Aug 18, 2017. Accessed 23 July 2018.
4. Levy, Gabrielle. “Poll: Few Trump Voters Regret Their 2016 Vote, but Some Could Switch in 2020.” U.S. News. https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-11-09/poll-few-trump-voters-regret-their-2016-vote-but-some-could-switch-in-2020. Nov 9, 2017. Accessed 23 July 2018.
