Every day I see more and more headlines about the political state of America and I just wonder to myself, “How did I ever support that party?”
I used to be a diehard Republican and a diehard Donald Trump supporter. This was true for the majority of my life. I had a Trump bumper sticker, a MAGA hat and I even went as Trump for Halloween one year.
Growing up in a conservative family, in a conservative town, I grew up surrounded by many people who influenced my political ideas for most of my life.
At the time, I believe I was blinded by just wanting to fit in with everyone, because I never really knew what the government was doing at the time. I never kept up with actual policies during Trump’s first term and I was just blindly supporting him.
Then Trump lost the 2020 election, and I started to really pay attention to politics during Joe Biden’s presidency. At this time, I was still conservative, but I was noticing things that seemed off, such as Trump and his supporters believing the 2020 election was “rigged” and that it was stolen from him. Even though there was significant proof showing that there was zero evidence that it was rigged.
As time went on, I became more aware of how the Republican Party operated, always preaching what they do not practice.
Saying the democratic party is the party of intolerance, saying that the democrats can never agree with someone who has differing views from themselves, but I have seen first-hand that it is quite the opposite.
I have met quite many conservative people who treat anyone with differing views in contempt, often yelling at them for just having a different view than themselves. Now, I know this is not true for every single conservative person, because I know quite a lot and not everyone is like that.
I started going to Ferris in January of 2024, and this would be the turning point when my political views started to change. I was in a place where I met people from all walks of life, something I did not have when growing up.
My views started to change as the year went on, eventually moving to the middle of the political spectrum. In the 2024 Presidential election, I voted for Robert F. Kennedy Jr, something I regret to this day. He seemed like the best candidate for me, even though I knew he would not win the election, I agreed with most everything he said and most of his proposed policies.
Then RFK Jr does a complete 180 and turns his back on his moderate supporters, and takes a cabinet job for Trump. For years leading up to the 2024 election, RFK Jr was staunchly against Trump and his policies, then as soon as he was offered a job in his cabinet, he threw his personal ideals out the window and took the job.
Day one of his second term, Trump reversed many Biden-era policies, declared a national emergency at the southern border, initiated mass deportation efforts and withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord.
I thought this was insane, but if only I knew that this was just the beginning of what was to come in the next year. Starting from the sweeping ICE raids across the country to not even doing his main campaign promise: bringing down inflation and increased cost of groceries.
With Trump’s sweeping tariffs, the administration has actually raised prices for food and household appliances, adding an estimated $1,700 in annual costs to the average household, according to the Center for American Progress.
Returning to my first line of this article, “How did I ever support the republican party?” The answer is I blindly supported them, without really understanding what the party did and how they actually operated.
I hope more people who were like me in high school have the same experience I had, because we are the next generation and we need to lead this country to the best of our ability.