Hello, everyone! This is a blog meant to be entertaining and fluffy, but unfortunately, in these dark times, it’s impossible to be apolitical. So before I write a post about I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House, I want to take a brief moment to talk about the results of the election.

Whatever you may think of Donald Trump, the fact is that he is going to president. He won more electoral college votes than Hillary, which I guess means that the majority of American technically wanted this. This is my first election I’ve ever voted in and it honestly makes me never want to vote again. My friends and I spent the night alternately crying, shouting, pacing, and staring at disbelief at CNN. When I woke up, and saw that Obama had formally congratulated Trump on his “victory,” I started to cry again. My feelings were echoed by my teachers and almost every student in my classes. Red eyes and long silences abounded.

I don’t understand why a country like ours has repudiated its values in such an extreme manner. We’re so smug, so superior with our knight in shining armor American philosophy, yet our actions show that it’s nothing more than a facade. We claim to be progressive, a country of immigrants, of inclusion, of liberty and choice. We claim to value equality. Yet last night, 49 percent of the American electorate voted for a man who gleefully rejects all of those values. We rejected a supposedly “crooked” politician for a man who is literally embroiled in civil and criminal lawsuits. And in doing so, we showed the world that America may say that it cares about the rights of minorities, the dignity of women, and freedom of religion, but those words are worthless. As a women, I’m ashamed, but I’m also immensely hurt. I see how half the country views me. I, and every women like me, am nothing more than an object to be groped, to be shamed, to be insulted, and eventually, to be thrown away. The fact that 42 percent of American women, 42 PERCENT, voted for a man who views them as trash, is incomprehensible. It makes me sick.

I know that there are many people in America who voted for Trump because they were in pain, and he was the only one who was “listening.” I understand that, I empathize, and it’s clear that the result of this election shows a systemic problem in the way that political parties reach out to the impoverished and disillusioned white men in our country. But may I just say that for those other Trump supporters, the ones who voted merely because they would rather have Trump in the White House than Hillary, you should be ashamed. You may not agree with Trump’s beliefs, but you condone them nonetheless. If anything, that’s worse.

I guess the worst part of it is the embarrassment. I’m embarrassed for Clinton, who had to concede in a humiliating fashion to a man who didn’t deserve to be on the same stage as her, let alone beat her in the presidential election. I’m embarrassed for Obama, who had to congratulate Trump, even though everything Obama has said thus far in the campaign has displayed his belief in the former’s idiocy. I’m embarrassed for Romney, for Bush, for every Republican who justly opposed him and now has to reconcile. Most of all, I’m embarrassed for other countries and the fact that they have to embrace a president like Trump for the sake of alliances.

As a young voter, I wasn’t expecting a miracle in this election. I know that our country is deeply divided and that no democracy is perfect. I guess by expecting our country to elect a just, honest, ethical, inclusive president, I revealed my naivete. So I’ll be naive a little longer and hope, against all evidence, that everything will be okay.