The Official Student Newspaper of Eckerd College Volume 8, Issue IV Nov. 11, 2016
By Ben Goldberg Editorial Manager On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump won the Presidential Election. With his win in Wisconsin, he crossed over the 270 electoral vote threshold needed to defeat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Eckerd students took more than a half-dozen ECOS chartered buses to polling station to voice their opinion on both national and local candidates and issues. Within Pinellas County, more than a half-million votes were
cast, and Donald Trump won over Hillary Clinton by just 5,467 votes. Within District 13, democrat Charlie Crist beat incumbent republican David Jolly in the race for his seat in the house, and republican Marco Rubio defended his seat in the senate. As the likelihood of Trump’s victory became more clear, many Eckerd students were quick to voice their unease. “I think we will be in enormous danger of possibly facing diplomatic isolation from some of our most trustworthy allies, like the UK, which re-
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cently threatened to ban Trump from the United Kingdom,” senior Abigail Stanga said. Other students were more concerned with how a Trump presidency would directly impact their lives. “It’s up in the air right now, and it’s up in the air what my family is going to do and for a lot of my friends; all of my Muslim friends, all of my queer friends, all of my friends who are women. For all sorts of minorities, it’s going to be difficult,” junior R. Hettinger said. In contrast, Donald Trump spoke
of unification and national healing in his victory speech. “Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together, to all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation I say it is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump said. Nationally, the GOP won a simple majority in both chambers of congress, and it is the first time in a decade that the party will have control of both the legislative and executive branches. On a local level, Amendment 1
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was rejected by voters, while Amendments 2, 3 and 5 passed with the necessary levels of support to take effect. It is unclear what role the results of the election will have in the daily lives of Eckerd students, and many are uncertain about their futures. “It’s difficult being Hispanic, and with my dad growing up in a fascist state I thought that America would be better than this, and it’s not,” Hettinger said. “It’s really upsetting. I didn’t think I would be so upset, but now I don’t know if I can live here anymore. I don’t know what to do.”
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