Why community will be vital to Americans under a Trump administration
By: Ellie Simmers | Assistant News Editor
Looking back on both nights when Donald Trump was elected, I see two similar scenes before me.
In 2016, I was 12 years old, watching family members, community leaders, and classmates celebrate the election of a man who degraded women, had no political experience, and was endorsed by a Ku Klux Klan-associated publication, as well as David Duke, the former leader of the klan.
In 2024, I was a 20-year-old college student, still watching family members, community leaders, and classmates celebrate the election of a convicted felon who was found liable for sexual assault, exchanged ‘beautiful’ letters with Kim Jong Un, and had dinner with Nick Fuentes and Ye, both known for their antisemitic sentiments.
There was one key difference between the aftermath of 2016 and the aftermath of 2024 for me:
Community.
In 2016, I was in a rural community with limited access to social media and little knowledge of politics and social issues outside of what was taught in my social studies classes. I knew that I felt scared, which was different from my red hat-wearing, Confederate flag-clad classmates and community members, who were all celebrating Donald Trump being elected.
In 2024, I was in college and felt more confident about myself and my values. By surrounding myself with those who shared my beliefs, I was able to cultivate connections with those who would become my support group in the uncertain future.
When I entered high school, my freshman year was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave me almost a year and a half of staying home and allowed me to discover the importance of community. I educated myself on the issues while my peers and adults disagreed during this time. Through my research, I found my voice and was very vocal online about the injustices and failures I witnessed.
I found myself craving connection and community, not just because it felt needed when people could not physically be together, but because I sought to embolden my voice and beliefs. Other advocates inspired me, and I believe we were fighting the good fight.
During the 2020 election season, I began to volunteer with local advocacy groups, do phone banking, attend virtual events, and connect with those who were in the same shoes I was.
Despite my local community giving me pushback on my desire to advocate, my online community accepted me wholeheartedly. Some of my classmates would play the Russian National Anthem each time I walked into the classroom. Others would go as far as to call me “Comrade Ellie,” which I viewed more as a compliment than an insult. I connected with other advocates in my online circles who helped me expand my network.
Since coming to the University of Lynchburg in the fall of 2023, I have found an amazing community of progressive, outspoken, and supportive individuals who not only support me in what I do but push me to do more and do better.
Similarly to the rhetoric that was spewed before, during, and after the 2016 Presidential Election, the underlying narrative that the Republican Party has been pushing before, during, and after the 2024 Presidential Election is one of hatred and division, which can be seen in the executive orders Trump has issued in his first two weeks in office.
Since his first day in office, President Donald Trump has signed over 50 executive orders. These orders include ending birthright citizenship, getting rid of DEI initiatives within the federal government, withdrawing from both the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization, and banning transgender Americans from serving in the military.
With Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, and Elon Musk, four of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, showing their support for Trump at his inauguration, it can make you feel like I did in 2016: helpless and hopeless.
When I read that Elon Musk would be a member of Trump’s Presidential Cabinet and lead the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), I couldn’t help but laugh at the pure lunacy of having someone like Musk in the president’s ear.
When I saw the CEOs of Meta, Amazon, and Google seated in the front row of Trump’s inauguration alongside Musk, I did not laugh, because I now understood that Zuckerberg, Bezos, Pichai, and Musk were all going to be in the president’s ear.
To lie down and take what is being fed and subjected upon us would be to give into precisely what the GOP and tech billionaires want: for the American people to succumb to fear and division.
They are banking on the fact that the relentless rollout of executive orders, social media posts, and speeches will break the American people.
The most radical thing an American can do right now is not to let fear-mongering break you but to achieve this, you must have a community alongside you.
We will not survive the next four years alone. Without a community, whether online or in-person, standing up with you, weariness and hopelessness will take over.
We can be influential on our own, but only for so long. When we have a community around us, they can help carry us when we feel weak, pushing us to be strong again.
Ask yourself: What values are important to me? In what ways am I seeking to change the world around me? If a community isn’t fighting for that issue, form your own. Become the community that others need.
Your joy and your persistence are your resistance.
Well written Ellie!