ILLUSTRATION BY GRACE HALIO
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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | NYUNEWS.COM
ILLUSTRATION BY EASTON SELF
Donald Trump Elected 45th President of the United States Donald J. Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States early Wednesday morning, ending the most ridiculous presidential race in recent history with the outcome that no one saw coming — except for maybe Trump himself. After a tumultuous election cycle which saw tensions between the left and the right reach new extremes on a national stage — deepening the divide further than it has been in years — Trump narrowly pulled out a victory over Hillary Clinton, ushering in a new era of American politics. The 70-year-old has long been considered a longshot to win the presidency, from the moment he announced his intent to run up until the closing of the first polls on Tuesday night. However, polls underestimated Trump at every step of the way, and his prediction that the silent majority would turn out in favor of him ended up being correct. At close to 3 a.m. on Wednesday,
the president elect took the stage at the Trump campaign headquarters in New York City to thank his supporters and outline his vision for the United States. His speech elicited themes of unity and healing, ones rarely seeing during Trump’s campaign over the last two years. “Ours was not a campaign, but rather an incredible and great movement made up of millions of hard working men and women who love their country and want a better brighter future for themselves and their families,” Trump said. “Every single American will have the opportunity to fulfill his or her potential. The forgotten men and women if this country will be forgotten no longer. Trump’s campaign was marred by inflammatory racist and sexist language that alienated a large portion of the American electorate and turn off large parts of both the Democratic and Republican party. Despite this, the bombastic busi-
nessman was able to rally support among a white American middle class feeling disenfranchised by the democratic process and a country they saw as leaving them behind. Clinton was the favorite coming into the night, with many seeing her as a competent if flawed candidate who could handily beat Trump on election night. Her campaign was overshadowed by the revelation that she used a private email server in her time as Secretary of State, something she couldn’t escape despite no charges being brought against her. Early on Tuesday evening, the two candidates were neck and neck, but the first domino fell in Trump’s favor when he captured Florida, considered a toss-up state that could all but guarantee a Clinton victory if she won there. Instead, the momentum carried over to wins in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Ohio — the latter of which voted for President Barack Obama in back to back elections.
BY ALEX BAZELEY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Trump’s victory, coming on the heels of President Obama being the first African-American to hold the title of commander-in-chief, led a campaign reliant on legitimizing xenophobia, misogyny and racism as middle class white voters saw their country being taken away from them. Months ago, he was the unlikely winner among the Republican presidential candidates. Over time, he captured the imagination of more and more American voters who wanted an outsider to the political system, giving a voice to citizens who felt that they had fallen to the wayside among the increasing partisanship in Washington. “It is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump said on Wednesday. “America will no longer settle for anything less than the best.”
Email Alex Bazeley at abazeley@nyunews.com.
NYUNEWS.COM | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
BY BOBBY WAGNER MANAGING EDITOR
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he impossible is real and, frankly, Democrats are disoriented in trying to figure out how. For all the incessant talk of classified information that drove 2016’s political circus, for all the vitriolic discussion surrounding Clinton’s emails and Trump’s rhetoric, for all the data-driven campaigning designed to secure an inside path for Clinton to the presidency — it was maybe the least classified information of all that hindered Hillary Clinton’s chance of becoming the first woman president of the United States: her intention to continue down the road President Barack Obama, and the rest of Washington, has taken America. As a former member of Obama’s cabinet, Secretary Clinton made no effort to veil the fact that Obama’s time in office was going to be her leaping-off point. It was this that drew ire from Republicans — a “we can’t handle four more years of Obama” groupthink that peppered political commentary for the last year and drove millions of Republicans to the polls who did not turn out for Mitt Romney in 2012. “The validity in [the worry surrounding four more years of Obama] is that a lot of her plans follow suit of exactly what Obama wanted to do,” Gallatin senior Alicia Lang, who identifies herself as a Libertarian believing in small government, said. “She has no intention of repealing Obamacare. Her tax plans are very similar to Obama’s, where supposedly the goal is
Why Couldn't We Handle Four Years of This?
to strengthen the middle class and create a level playing field.” She, and many center- or right-leaning conservatives at NYU, criticized the optimism demarcating Obama’s time in office — an optimism Clinton had hoped would continue — as little more than wishful thinking that would have struggled to materialize without a dramatic increase in taxes and government size. Now, we are left with Trump — the unknown. But these are the most trite of Republican vs. Democrat arguments — squabbles over the size of government and tax rates. All this is to say nothing of the loss of trust in government, which proved to be a key strategy in the Trump campaign’s shaping of its candidate as the ideal disruptor for disaffected white voters. According to Gallup polls, those who answered “None at all” to the question of “How much trust do you have in our Federal Government in Washington?” is at a three-year peak, not seen since 2005 through 2008 — the latter days of the Iraq War and the height of the Chelsea Manning WikiLeaks. This soured the taste in the mouths of undecided voters who had become more and more skeptical of corruption in government. CAS junior Louis Bartholomew, the former Treasurer of the NYU College Republicans and the current Treasurer of the NYU Politics Society, pointed to this as a key reason he’s noticed for the steadfast disdain for Clinton that barred her from the Oval Office.
“I think the main reason that people hate her — I think partially there’s a little sexism in there, although I think there’s less sexism than people would like to believe, but I think it is there,” Bartholomew said. “I think the overriding thing is that she’s just viewed as corrupt.” Bartholomew’s painting of Clinton offers some explanation as to why Clinton polled poorly among states in the midwest who have, by the indication of yesterday’s exit polls, become fed up with the repercussions of American trade failures. Emails drudged up memories of scandals and policies that have been dispersed through Clinton’s — as well as her husband’s — political careers, giving voters an easier path away from the Washington establishment. “The email scandal just dealt a huge blow and brought forth a lot of corruption ideas from the past,” Bartholomew said. “Whether that be lying about the Bosnian sniper fire incident, whether that be her changes in stances on gay marriage — there’s just this whole narrative that’s been created around her being this flip-flopper and just being a corrupt politician.” All things considered, however, Bartholomew, Lang and other moderately conservative voters at NYU expressed an actual affinity for some of Clinton’s policies that the rest of the country obviously did not. Bartholomew even went as far as saying that “if the Republicans
didn’t hate her so much, they’d love to work with her.” Perhaps the most shocking reverse of narrative was the sentiment that Democrats would turn out to keep Trump out of the presidency. President of the NYU College Democrats Michael DeLuca said, days before the election, that though the College Democrats were rallying around their candidate via phone calls and canvassing, they could not ignore the inherent fear they had of the opposing one. “These past few months have been characterized not only by a desire to get Hillary Clinton into the White House, but a desire to keep Trump out,” DeLuca said. “This is an election for specific people, but also a referendum on the issues we care about.” This referendum could see its peak in the coming months, even on issues that are core to the American identity for many voters. For DeLuca, this starts and ends with personal freedom. “Our big principles of things like freedom of speech, freedom of the press [are under attack],” DeLuca said. “Trump has threatened to loosen our libel laws so that he can go after the media that has criticized him. When you think about the immediate effect that his presidency could have on those basic principles that we all believe in, it’s a scary thought.”
Email Bobby Wagner at bwagner@nyunews.com.
BY TAYLOR NICOLE ROGERS DINING EDITOR
A National Election From Global Eyes This election cycle might have consumed the attention of most Americans over the last year, but for the approximately one fifth of NYU students who did not grow up in the United States, watching this election has been an interesting — if somewhat unusual — introduction to the intricacies of American politics. Although LS sophomore Mason Song followed American politics before leaving China, he was still surprised by how much the election consumed his day-to-day life once he got to the United States. “Normally I would not care about not being able to vote in this election,” Song said. “But watching how has Trump bullied his way into being the Republican nominee is like watching an American slowly drowning but not being able to save him or her.”
Though many Americans might consider this year’s election to be the wildest they have ever seen, quite a few international students were not phased by it. CAS freshman Karsha Bhartia, who is an international student from India, was surprised to learn how much Trump's behavior perturbed her classmates. ”I think Trump is an attention-seeking bully, but at home, things are really wild,” Bhartia said. “Indian elections are really something else. This election isn’t scaring me.” Many of the international students like Song who payed close attention to the events of the campaigns think about them in terms of how it would affect their home countries. CAS sophomore Petra Szepesi, who grew
up in Hungary, says she doesn’t know whom she would vote for if she was an American citizen. “I know that Clinton has criticized Hungary previously and has made some negative comments regarding our policies,” Szepesi said. “That could possibly impact the foreign affairs between Hungary and the U.S. Honestly, I have no idea who I'd vote for, so I guess [the] pressure [is] off of me.” Bhartia isn’t sure how a Trump presidency will affect the United States’ relationship with India, saying that the United States and India have strong relations as it stands. She added that she is unaccustomed to how Americans make voting choices based on how the candidates will affect them personally.
“Indian politics are different than American politics in that they are more about economic issues than social ones,” Bhartia said. “Whatever happens would affect me a lot less than it will affect others.” Song also pointed out that Americans’ strong sense of idealism could be to blame for the unusual nastiness of both Clinton and Trump’s campaigns. “This is a vital moment in U.S. democracy as personal fear and hatred seem to gain prominence over rationality,” Song said. “The U.S. has to find its way back to rationality, and it has to find a balance between political correctness and free speech.”
Email Taylor Nicole Rogers at trogers@nyunews.com.
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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | NYUNEWS.COM
The Digital Presidency BY ALEX BAZELEY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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eople will debate President Barack Obama’s legacy for years, but there’s no questioning this: he will go down in the history books as the first president to tweet. Coming of age in the era of social media, the president, with just a couple months left in office, has certainly seared himself into the minds of millennials — in part due to the fact that they could follow his every move on social media. It’s a changing landscape in how we consume our news and interact with the most famous of celebrities, and as a result, President Obama has become a sort of pop culture celebrity among young people, his digital presence on par with Twitter’s biggest stars. (His 78.5 million Twitter followers make him the fourth most popular account — behind Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift.) His perceived digital success is no accident. Understanding the need to capitalize on the newest means of conversation, the president assembled a digital team that carefully crafts his voice on social platforms. It signals a shift away from more conventional — and perhaps more antiquated — means of communicating with the American public, and a recognition that media literacy is crucial for a president who wants to energize citizens. “Our mission is to meet people where they are — and that also means delivering digital content in a way that’s consistent with what people expect to see when they get there,” said Kori Schulman, the Deputy Chief Digital Officer in the White House. And meet people they have. Last year, Obama announced his proposal for free community college in a Vine. The @POTUS Twitter
account consistently churns out 140-character updates on the state of the union. And just last week, the president appeared on the Snapchat political talk show “Good Luck America” to talk about Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Stephen Duncombe, a professor of media and culture at NYU who studies the history of presidents’ use of mass communication, says he sees President Obama’s use of today’s social platforms to be no different from any other president taking advantage of the media of their day. For example, Abraham Lincoln was a master orator; Franklin Delano Roosevelt used radio to step into people’s homes; John F. Kennedy knew the power of image on television. The difference, Duncombe says, is that he doesn’t believe that President Obama is the social pioneer that he is perceived to be. “He's an incredibly skilled comic president, but I don't think he ever figured out how to use social media in the way your average 16-yearold or 18-year-old probably has the skills to do,” Duncombe said. So maybe he hasn’t yet mastered the art of the tweet. But there’s no questioning that his presence on social media is resonating with users. And the increased social accessibility of the president is not just an entertaining outgrowth of an administration trying to draw a few smiles; it has proven to play an important role in engaging younger voters. The redefining of the presidency comes at a crucial time, as people grapple with how much of their lives should be broadcasted to the world. Similarly, the last 18 months of the election have proven just how pivotal a single post can be in driv-
ing the conversation, at least for a few hours. The digital legacy that President Obama leaves behind is enough that last week, the White House published a detailed plan as to how the social media transition in January will take place. And it’s something that Donald Trump will need to capitalize on when he gets the passwords to the social media accounts, said George Bennett, the Head of Digital Strategy at the advertising agency Droga5 (which has worked with both Clinton and President Obama on crafting digital marketing campaigns). “If the Obama administration showed the political world how to speak on social media with a singular voice, the next president will have an opportunity to elevate the voices of the many people within their administration, empowering them to engage more directly with constituents on social platforms,” Bennett said. It will be a strange sight to see how Trump handles his social media presence following his victory on Tuesday. Throughout the presidential campaign, he was known for his outlandish tweets which he crafted and posted himself, a departure from any other mainstream candidate (then again, Trump was not a normal candidate by any means). “The fact is [Donald Trump] does know how to use social media,” Duncombe said. “The problem is he only knows how to use it in such a way as to amplify his own personal ideas and personal thoughts.” But even if his usage sets him apart in, there’s no disputing that social media — spouting ideas that will generate conversation and clicks — is Trump’s forte. If the re-
ality TV star’s social media presence makes him seems more relatable in any way, it’s probably not to the mainstream social media user; rather, he resembles more of your crazy uncle ranting on Facebook. Even still, entertainment sells. President Obama, on the other hand, was able to humanize himself well and often on social media, whether through a video of him dancing to “Thriller” by Michael Jackson or a selfie on Instagram from a vacation. A victory tweet following the 2012 election which featured President Obama and Michelle Obama racked up more than 800,000 retweets. Social media can pose problems for politicians trying to advance agendas through it, though. Online, there is no captive audience waiting to hear the full speech — users want the quick soundbite or clip that will sum everything up. Attention spans are shorter than ever, and as a result, policies can sometimes get watered down to 140 characters to ensure that people don’t get bored and click away. “Policy is complex and tweets are short,” Duncombe said. “There's a sort of interface problem between the complexity of policy and the simplicity of social media. And also between the sort of rationality which is necessary to understand policy and the emotional charge and emotional character of most social media.” But Bennett sees it differently. “Any political actor who believes that they are debasing their message by employing the communications methods embraced by their constituents is living in the past.”
Email Alex Bazeley at abazeley@nyunews.com.
NYUNEWS.COM | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
There has never and will never be another election “It’s been an odd year,” Hardin said. “In fact, if you have looked at standard quite like the 2016 presidential race. Russell Hardin, explanations and models and electoral contests, this one would not fit. So it’s a Professor of Politics and Helen Gould Shepard Professtrange what’s going on and strange in a way to people as well.” sor in the Social Sciences at NYU, specializes in rational Hardin stated that despite the unprecedented political realm, this elecchoice as well as moral and political philosophy. Hardin sat tion has coincided with the best economy since 1936 and relatively down with WSN to discuss this election and analyze how the nastable international relations. So, how did we end up with the Clintion chose a non-political Republican nominee and the first female ton vs. Trump showdown? nominee at the Democratic helm.
How Did We Get to Hillary Clinton?
BY DIAMOND NAGA SIU NEWS EDITOR
BY DIAMOND NAGA SIU NEWS EDITOR
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illary Clinton narrowly missed winning the election on Tuesday night. But even before Tuesday, Clinton’s nomination was historic — she was the first female to receive a nomination from a major party. Her campaign highlighted the female power with the hashtag #ImWithHer, and Clinton’s rhetoric throughout the election trail discussed the glass ceiling for women trying to succeed in a male-dominated society and the struggles they face every single day. Hardin said that although historic, Clinton representing the party was a natural progression and fairly straightforward since she fits the typical politician role — including her discussion of the aforementioned civil rights. However, he added that her nomination signified a change within the American viewpoints regarding feminism, especially compared to countries around the world. “She was pretty well guaranteed at a probably very early stage [of the nomination],” Hardin said. “And if there was a hesitation, it was a hesitation from anti-feminists who thought that she was not strong enough.” He said that feminism in the United States is a considerably weaker movement considering the population of feminists in America compared to that of other countries. Even now, some people qualify her nomination by saying that Clinton only received the nomination through the good fortune that other, more qualified candidates — such as Vice President Joe Biden — did not enter the race. This debate of women’s place within politics dates back to 1848 with the Seneca Falls Convention, which kickstarted the conversation surrounding women’s voting rights. The Women’s Suffrage Movement was led by people such as Susan B.
How Did We Get to Donald Trump?
Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but both passed away before their efforts came to fruition with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Because of Clinton’s position on the ballot, many women put their “I Voted” stickers on Anthony’s gravestone on Tuesday to pay tribute to her. And in light of the rhetoric by Trump, such as his April 16 tweet that speculated, “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?” FiveThirtyEight released a map to demonstrate just how gendered this presidential election is. The news outlet made two maps that showed what the election results would be if only women voted versus the election results if only men voted. Unsurprisingly, a women-only election would give Clinton a landslide victory, while men largely favored Trump. This started the #repealthe19th movement on various social media platforms, and memes even started appearing in support of the trending topic. Hardin said that this male-female dichotomy is not as prevalent in other countries and that in the United Kingdom, the Labor Party was deciding between two female candidates. He said that the U.K. touts a history of female domination in its politics and that it would have been nice to see that in the United States. He added that Clinton has a successful and unique series of positions within the political world, and the presidency would have been a logical most recent addition to the list. “Around the world, we have strong women leaders in many countries such as Germany,” Hardin said. “Clinton is in fact quite strong — has been quite strong.”
Email Diamond Naga Siu at dsiu@nyunews.com.
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rom ABC to Business Insider, people scoffed at the notion of a Donald Trump nomination when he announced his candidacy way back in June 2015. And yet, the businessman managed to pull out an unlikely victory on Tuesday. Hardin said that because of so much original backlash, many people wondered how Trump received the nomination during the Republican National Convention in August 2016. “I think it was a very straightforward deal,” Hardin said. “There are a couple factors that are hard to figure, but one of them is there weren’t many strong candidates on the side of the Republicans — that’s unusual.” He said that the Republicans normally present a politically strong candidate who competes equally with the Democratic nominee. “Candidates tore each other down and were fairly successful at that,” Hardin said. “Even though these people were not strong to begin with, they were even weaker as the campaign season went on, and that’s a kind of world in which you don’t want to be a participant.” The weakened field may have been a stroke of good luck for Trump, who is an outsider to the political world, giving him a chance to come out looking strong in the election pool. Hardin said that this serendipitous timing for Trump is often overlooked by people when they tried to see how the country reached a Trump presidency. The Trump victory, Hardin speculated, was likely conflicting for many Republican voters when looking at the party’s trajectory for the past 10 years. “It’s hard for a Republican looking to vote in that particular election,” Hardin said. “But it’s hard to analyze also those who are liberal
and would love to continue the liberal tradition that was established by the last decade or so, and it looks hard to do at the moment. We can’t really say what’s going to happen.” Trump’s rhetoric will only be magnified and legitimized following election day, so the future of this outside-the-establishment figure remains a very real — and now attainable — goal for American voters on both parties. Trump was obviously not afraid to speak his mind during the election cycle, and many voters liked that he was not afraid to call out the problems of the United States — even if he didn’t always provide viable solutions. With his motto “Make America Great Again,” Trump played to the fears of many conservative Americans, especially those who have felt disenfranchised as the country has shifted further and further left. With a surface understanding of international issues and proposing idealistic far-right immigration policies, Trump appealed to a voiceless demographic and was seen as the solution for problems that scared so many Americans. “All of that is the growth of populism with Trump as the arbiter of that position,” Hardin said. “Trump is from the outside, and you couldn’t even begin to explain his conservatism or his means as an entertainer or whatever they call him.” The reverence of Trump also may have given him advantages that other candidates were not able to obtain. “He didn’t face the usual kinds of problems in mobilizing a candidacy,” Hardin said. “Some people just expected him to lose, but he kept gaining more and more popularity as time went on.”
Email Diamond Naga Siu at dsiu@nyunews.com.
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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | NYUNEWS.COM
NYUNEWS.COM | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
The Electoral Map
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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | NYUNEWS.COM
Non-Voters Are Few at NYU BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG FEATURES EDITOR
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YU is such a politically-active campus that you’d be hard-pressed to find a student who has actively declined to take part in the political process (contrary to what Fox News’ Jesse Watters might have you believe). But they do exist, if you look hard enough. Students eligible to vote who chose not to fulfill their civic duty generally attributed their decision to lack of information about the candidates and lack of time to fill out the necessary paperwork. The university attempted to facilitate voter participation by making registration forms available at the Kimmel Center and Silver throughout October, but some students still had difficulty registering by the Oct. 14 New York deadline. CAS Junior Class President Sana Husain said that Student Council and NYU Votes co-sponsored a subscription for NYU students to sign up for TurboVotes to make it easier for students to arrange for absentee ballots. “A big complaint was [that] it’s hard for outof-state kids to vote and make it accessible for them, so NYU votes kind of made that happen,” she said. “It’s gonna be kind of hard to find non-voters at NYU.” Husain’s evaluation seems accurate. Of 25 eligible voters randomly interviewed at Bobst, only one said that he had not registered to vote. Tandon freshman Robert Kim said that politics simply did not appeal to him — and that he didn’t have enough time to dedicate to the issues. Lack of free time was also a deterrent for CAS junior Omokhefue Sado, who said that she had
registered to vote in her home state of Illinois but had never gotten around to filling out her absentee ballot. “I’m actually really upset because all my friends are voting,” she said. “They were supposed to remind me to send in my absentee ballot, but they never did.” One demographic that is surprisingly underrepresented among non-voters is former Bernie Sanders supporters. Although there is no definitive way to know what percentage of students who voted for Sanders in the primary went on to vote for Clinton in the general election, there has not been a large movement among Sanders supporters on campus to write in his name or to abstain from voting. Gallatin sophomore Matt Salerno, a former Sanders supporter, said that he had initially intended not to vote in the general election after Sanders lost the primary but changed his mind once he reviewed the other presidential candidates and their policies. “I’ve come to terms with reality and decided to vote,” he said. “I really don’t want Trump to win.” Despite her nonparticipation, Sado echoed this sentiment. “I’m gonna feel really dumb if Trump wins,” Sado said. “You never know who could be that one person to push Hillary over the edge.” One has to wonder how these voters are feeling right now.
Email Abigail Weinberg at aweinberg@nyunews.com.
NYUNEWS.COM | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
ILLUSTRATION BY GRACE HALIO AND GABRIELLA BOWER
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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | NYUNEWS.COM
Against the Not-So-Grand Old Party BY NATASHA ROY DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR
In most presidential elections, citizens vote for a nominee simply because of the party they align with. This year, however, many Republicans could not bring themselves to vote for Donald Trump, choosing instead to break from the Republican party. Several NYU students who identify as Republicans said they did not vote for Trump because they did not feel that he represents Republican ideals. “I did not vote for Donald Trump even though I still identify as a Republican,” Emily Harris, a CAS junior, said. “I just think that associating Donald Trump with conservative values is actually really disruptive to the Republican party.” Harris is not the only Republican to feel this way and perhaps for good reason. Trump presents himself as an outsider to Washington, eschewing both traditional Democratic and Republican values and making clear his beliefs that policymakers on both sides of the aisle have failed America. CAS freshman Cameron Oakes, who identifies as a Republican, said she would not vote for Trump just because he was Republican and because she did not believe his business skills justified the possibility of his presidency. “You can find hundreds of other Republicans who have run way more successful companies that haven’t cheated the laws and not paid taxes and bankrupted companies and ruined people’s lives,” Oakes said. “I think if you’re going to pull a non-politician for Republican bases, there are plenty more successful Republicans that are better people and
know more about the world around them than Donald Trump does.” Harris said that although she has always identified as a Republican, this was the first time she has felt extremely conflicted during an election. “I’ve never had to question that in terms of who I’m voting for or who’s representing me, and in this election I’ve really had to step back and say, ‘what does being a Republican mean to me?’” Harris said. “I really feel like I will never vote for Donald Trump, even if it means voting for another party.” It’s no secret how divided the Republican party has become in the wake of Trump’s candidacy. Former fellow presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush have loudly voiced their decision not to back Trump, while many representatives in the House have indicated they will not be voting for him. Meanwhile, the #NeverTrump movement has seen support come from both the left and the right. Young Republicans especially feel that Trump does not represent the ideals of millennial Republicans. “Donald Trump is completely unappealing to especially college women,” Harris said. “I feel like that has kind of plummeted grasping that demographic for the party, which I think is really sad because it just doesn’t represent what the Republican Party is going for.” LS freshman Christopher Zhen believes the different opinions about Trump showcase the age divide in the Republican party.
“I think it’s kind of interesting how the older [Republicans] say, ‘Oh we’re voting for Trump, you know, for your guys’ future’ when in reality, a lot of us don’t actually support Trump,” Zhen said. “We support down and out Republicans.” Although many Republicans did not vote for Trump, they also did not decide to vote for Hillary Clinton. Others voted for third party candidates as they felt these candidates aligned with their ideals, while Clinton did not. Harris said she did not want to vote for Clinton simply because she did not agree with Trump. “I really wanted to sit this election out, but that would have just been quite stupid because you’re given the power to vote,” Harris said. “But at the same time, I couldn’t really justify voting for HIllary Clinton just because I hated Donald Trump. I want to completely support where my vote is going.” With the controversy surrounding Trump’s candidacy, Republicans have seen people breaking from their respective parties. They believe it could be difficult to unify the party in the aftermath of the election. “I think it poses a pretty substantial divide. The biggest issue for Republicans going forward after this election is the rebranding of the party,” Oakes said. “I just don’t feel that way. I think the biggest thing would be unifying the party and gaining the voters back that we lost because of the way he’s run his campaign.”
Email Natasha Roy at nroy@nyunews.com.
Dissatisfied, Voters Try a Third Party BY EMILY FONG OPINION EDITOR
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ast night, as Donald Trump emerged as the victor in a long presidential contest, a number of people around the country were left feeling dissatisfied with the state of American politics. Granted, these voters might not have been happy if Hillary Clinton won either — their views went unrepresented in either candidate, which is why they chose to vote third party. A number of NYU students, feeling disillusioned by either what they saw as ineffectual policy or simply by the candidates themselves, turned instead to voting for third party candidates like Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Socialist Equality Party candidate Jerry White. LS freshman Doug Braff is one such voter. Braff felt that the candidates nominated by the two major parties didn’t adequately represent him. Originally, he had a different candidate in mind. “I had originally been a Rand Paul supporter, but once he dropped out of the race, there weren't anymore candidates running for the major parties' nominations that really spoke anything close to my views,” Braff said. Trevor Hill, a CAS sophomore, said he preferred Bernie Sanders, saying that he couldn’t support someone whose main priority wasn’t combating climate change. Initially, he found the prospect of a Clinton candidacy palatable, but his mood changed over time. “Throughout the contest, I found the idea of a Clinton presidency more and more disturbing, particularly when the question of her ties to Wall Street and her paid speeches came up,” Hill said.
He said that ultimately hearing Clinton refer to oil obtained from fracking as a “transition fuel” was what changed his vote to Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the end. Ideological disagreements with the major party candidates also played a role for people who opted for a third party vote. Isaac Oseas, a member of International Youth and Students for Social Equality who attends the Graduate School of Arts and Science, said that most of his concerns were policy based. “I am voting for the Socialist Equality Party’s candidates based on the party’s historical understanding of current political crisis — including the massive social inequality, police brutality and the war drive — that stems from an unwillingness and inability of the Democrats and Republicans to resolve the long-developing crisis of the capitalist system,” Oseas said. While no candidate is perfect, these students felt that the benefits of voting for third party candidates outweighed the risks. “Stein is only candidate who was challenging our economic norms and providing an alternative to the economic policies of Trump, Clinton and Johnson, who have a virtual consensus on this issue,” Hill said. Braff, meanwhile, said that Johnson’s humility in interviews and desire to be honest when faced with what he characterized as “gotcha questions” should be character strengths emblematic of any leader. Oseas felt that genuine desire for public service was lost among the major parties. “When I look at the program of the SEP, what I see corresponds to the needs of the masses of the population, even if right now most people have never heard of it,” he said.
Being a student at a politically active campus like NYU did in some ways inform how these students voted. For Oseas, campus discussions about politics regarding poverty, race and class issues spoke to a desire for better solutions presented by candidates. “Jerry White’s insistence that, at root, issues like poverty and police violence can only be addressed by unifying the working class in a struggle for social equality would have been a welcome antidote [to] the widespread confusion that exists on campus,” he said. Hill, on the other hand, said that Green Party voters were generally negatively received at NYU, but conversations he had on campus at the end of the primary still helped to solidify his decision. Meanwhile, Braff said that he tended to stay away from actively bringing up his vote for Johnson in class to avoid getting into claims of him implicitly electing Trump, which he found annoying. What all three students agreed upon, however, was that there was a need for third parties to be more involved in the American political system. Oseas said that both major parties are unable to provide mass appeal to the widespread anger at the political system that Americans have felt over the last few years. Braff and Hill said that the Libertarian and Green parties, respectively, should focus on expanding their influence in the American political sphere, whether that be through capitalizing on increased momentum from the presidential race or critiquing the inequities of the current American system.
Email Emily Fong at efong@nyunews.com.
NYUNEWS.COM | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
What's Going on in the Local Elections?
Southern Voters Fret Over Trump's Legacy
BY ABBEY WILSON ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR
If you have a pulse, you know that much attention is paid to the presidential election that happens once every four years. But the presidential election often takes attention away from local elections, which occur more frequently and are just as important as — if not more important than — the presidential election. Even elections for important federal offices such as senators and representatives can be overshadowed by the national race and, as a result, many people — especially newer voters — aren’t always aware of who is running for local office or what state legislative measures are on the ballot. New York does not allow citizen-initiated ballot measures on its ballot; instead, they must be referred by the legislature. This means you get years like this one, in which the New York Legislature has not placed any measures on the ballot. Several elected officials, including those on the state legislative committee, are in fact up for reelection. However, the ones who serve the districts that NYU’s campus falls under all ran unopposed. Since the time to vote has already passed, WSN has compiled a list of these officials’ stances on several issues: legalization of marijuana, green energy, prison/police reform and gun control. STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 66 DEBORAH GLICK, DEMOCRAT: • Legalization: supports decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana; voted to legalize medical marijuana • Energy: supports state funding for developing alternative forms of energy • Prison/police reform: voted yes on expanding services for offenders’ re-entry into society • Gun control: supports stricter gun control; doesn’t support allowing individuals to carry concealed weapons STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 27 BRAD M. HOYLMAN, DEMOCRAT: • Legalization: supports decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana; supports a bill to make marijuana legal in New York • Energy: work to create green jobs based on clean, renewable energy • Prison/police reform: fight to increase the accountability of the NYPD; opposes Stop and Frisk practices • Gun control: fight gun manufacturers and toughen licensing procedures U.S. SENATE SENIOR SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER, DEMOCRAT: • Legalization: doesn’t oppose it; supports Senator Gillibrand’s medical marijuana bill • Energy: voted yes on factoring global warming into federal project planning • Prison/police reform: voted to give offenders a second chance; voted no to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment • Gun control: wants to ban large-capacity ammunition; enforce gun laws on national security grounds JUNIOR SENATOR KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, DEMOCRAT: • Legalization: neutral on the legalization of marijuana; helped introduce a bipartisan bill to end federal prohibition of medical marijuana • Energy: voted yes for tax incentives for renewable energy; wants to balance fossil fuels and viable renewable energy • Prison/police reform: voted yes on expanding services for offenders’ re-entry into society; co-sponsored an increase in funding for the “COPS ON THE BEAT” program • Gun control: voted yes on banning high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets; wants to ban large-capacity ammunition U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DISTRICT 12 CAROLYN MALONEY, DEMOCRAT: • Legalization: supports legalization of marijuana; voted no on prohibiting needle exchange and medical marijuana in DC • Energy: voted yes on tax incentives for renewable energy; voted yes on enforcing limits on CO2 global warming pollution • Prison/police reform: voted yes on expanding services for offenders' re-entry into society; sponsored bill for easier access to rape kits and analysis • Gun control: stricter regulation on gun show firearm sales; ban largecapacity ammunition
Email Abbey Wilson at awilson@nyunews.com.
BY LEXI FAUNCE INVESTIGATIVE EDITOR
T
he crude commentary surrounding this election has left many first time voters disillusioned, with some feeling that the rampant name calling and blatant contempt the candidates felt toward each other overshadowed the importance of electing the next president. Animosity between the two major political parties was amplified by the Republican nominee’s headline-grabbing remarks on everything from his opponent to members of his own party. Real estate mogul Donald Trump’s campaign is probably known more for his outlandish statements during rallies and on social media instead of his actual policy platforms. The celebrity-turned-politician faced numerous allegations that his rhetoric riled voters and incited hatred toward minority communities. And some NYU students, particularly those from conservative states, were worried that the Trump campaign had re-ignited — and perhaps legitimized on a national stage — stereotypes that have long been associated with the South. While some students say that the liberal-leaning political climate of NYU impacted how they viewed the election and ultimately how they voted, most students from conservative backgrounds were primarily concerned with how Trump’s dialogue morphed into the collective representation of southerners. Tisch junior Sarah Proctor said she has been personally embarrassed at times to say that she is from Mississippi because of how wholeheartedly the state has supported Trump. She said that the rise of the Republican nominee had brought further out anti-gay and anti-immigration stances already prevalent in southern states, and as a result, Proctor said she felt pressured to qualify her political beliefs or else students would assume she supports a man with “low moral character.” “I think for the most part, I established my own beliefs while I was still back home in Mississippi just by seeing what I didn’t like in those around me and the bigotry that surrounded me everyday,” Proctor said. “I am a self-proclaimed moderate, raised by a Republican and conservative household and then came to my own conclusions. But being at NYU has definitely opened my eyes and perhaps maybe made me sway a little more left than I would have previously.” As a first time voter, Proctor said she was disappointed that neither candidate was particularly appealing to her. However, Proctor said she voted for Hillary Clinton by absentee ballot in Mississippi instead of voting in New York, as she felt this could have been the first time in recent history the predominantly red state could have turned blue. Tandon freshman Karan Ganta said being a student at NYU had not swayed his
political views at all because he came to college identifying as a Democrat. However, Ganta said that the university has encouraged him to be more considerate when addressing others — something that doesn’t happen in his hometown of Alpharetta, Georgia. He added that many people back home tend to ignore differing opinions, and he thinks that the election only reinforces widespread beliefs of the South being a bastion of regressive politics, particularly when southerners began defending Trump’s sexual harassment allegations. “Examples of southern people like this really push that harsh stereotype of the incestuous, Confederate rednecks that make up the South, and the media only shows these extreme cases of people to help discredit those in the Republican party,” Ganta said. “For myself, it brought out some of the more radical sides of friends that I never thought would side that way.” In addition, Ganta said he felt Trump reinforced divides that have come to be associated with the South, such as racist and sexist sentiments. With Trump winning the presidency, Ganta fears the election has created lasting effects that will cause those who lean right to dismiss certain political and social movements, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. Gallatin freshman Pamela Jew said that although she was raised in Georgia, her parents didn’t push any political views on her. Jew said she came to NYU as a liberal and the political climate of the school has only enhanced her disdain toward Trump. In addition, Jew said his statements have enforced what she thinks is a close-minded approach some southerners take when interacting with others from different backgrounds or political beliefs. “I think in the South, through this election, people are growing into more of the phobias and social constructions that they’ve made,” Jew said. “If the presidential candidate that [people] favored says it’s okay, they’re like ‘oh yeah, I can go with it too’ and [they] can be more of that sort of non-accepting person.” Although this election was unconventional to say the least, students are concerned that Trump’s rhetoric has amplified stereotypes that have come to be associated with the South. And while voters are relieved that the tumultuous election season is finally over, students from southern states are left wondering whether Trump’s controversial statements will have a longstanding impact on how they’re viewed, even if they never supported the billionaire to begin with.
Editor’s note: Pamela Jew has written for WSN. Email Lexi Faunce at lfaunce@nyunews.com.
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About WSN: Washington Square News (ISSN 15499389) is the student newspaper of New York University. WSN is published in print on Mondays and throughout the week online during NYU’s academic year, except for university holidays, vacations and exam periods. Corrections: WSN is committed to accurate reporting. When we make errors, we do our best to correct them as quickly as possible. If you believe we have erred, contact the managing editors at managing@nyunews.com or at 212.998.4302.