In a primarily liberal community, it can be hard to voice support of the now President-Elect, for fear of being deemed a racist, bigot, or sexist. Despite the negative perception of supporters, there are many people who are unwavering in their support of Donald Trump, who do not fit any of those identities. They praise his economic and business sense, foreign policy, stance on immigration, promises of stability, and feel that he will finally “drain the swamp.”

Although there is a lot of fear and uncertainty about the future in our community and parts of the world, these supporters believe that he will be a positive leader for the country. Students like AHS junior Sevi Multin feel that Trump’s honesty to the American people made him a better candidate, and leader.

“He was not afraid to say his opinion, and with Hillary Clinton she kinda hid a lot of secrets,” Multin said. “With Donald Trump, he was really open with everything he said so there wasn’t anything he hid which I liked as a president.”

A main concern of many who oppose Trump is his offensive rhetoric, including many remarks against women, Muslims, Mexicans, and African Americans. For many Trump supporters, this language, while not always preferable in a candidate, reminded them that he was not the generic politician that they had seen in previous elections. Although it was often offensive, it was mainly used to gain attention according to senior Parker Duncan.

“A lot of what he said throughout his campaign is just talk and just campaigning and not necessarily anything realistic and something that would happen,” Duncan said.

For these students, supporting Trump was a combination of wanting an outsider in the White House and a deep distrust of Hillary Clinton. They recognize that Trump wasn’t an ideal candidate but in these circumstances they believe that he will succeed whereas they feel Clinton wouldn’t have.

Until Trump takes office on Jan. 20, we will not know what the future of this country will hold, but senior Breezie Davis, and many others, are optimistic about Trump as Commander in Chief.

“There shouldn’t be anything to fear and he is just going to do good things for us,” Davis said.