The election is over, but the nightmare is just getting started. Any sane person knew after the primaries how horrible the coming four years would be. And now it is finally here.

Donald Trump, the most unpresidential individual in the nation, is now the 45th president of the United States. It feels like yesterday Trump was defending his “hand size” and claiming that John McCain wasn’t a war hero because he was captured.

But here we are, months later, and Trump has somehow found his way into the Oval Office through a very close race. Every early projection had Hillary Clinton winning in a landslide, yet obviously that was wrong. Slowly but surely throughout the night, Trump’s victory became more and more likely. How did Trump actually end up winning the election, even with all of his horrible comments and behavior?

Because Trump embodies everything moderates and liberals hate about the GOP, the party will be doomed for future forward movement. It should be obvious that Trump doesn’t speak for all Republicans, but he is producing a type of radical propaganda that gives outsiders inaccurate impressions. Trump was endorsed by several Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis, which contribute greatly to the reputation Republicans are earning.

Let’s take a look at some of the most offensive remarks Trump has made during his campaign: he suggested policies that would systematically target Muslims, such as banning the religious group from entering the country or requiring those individuals to be tracked. Both of these things violate the Constitution.

He suggested women should be punished for having an abortion. He said that Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not be impartial toward a decision because of his Mexican heritage. He attributed sexual assault in the military to the fact that men and women are not separated. Leaked footage showed Trump bragging about committing sexual assaults while his wife was pregnant.

Yet this man is now representing our great country. The man who refuses to look at facts is now speaking on behalf of all Americans on a global scale.

Clinton’s email scandal caught up with her at the worst possible time — just two weeks before the general election. But the re-opening of the criminal investigation wasn’t the only factor that handed Trump a victory: he was able to win because his opposition was the second-most disastrous candidate in history, right behind Trump himself.

If Trump was running against almost any other candidate, he most likely would have lost. But then again, nobody thought Trump would win the nomination, nonetheless the presidential election.

Trump sets the nation back decades with his racist positions. He is undeniably unpresidential. His victory shows a great deal about the status of the United States. The progress that has been made over the last hundred years will be undone. On top of all this, his tax plan may still damage the economy in the future. The national debt will continue to grow as Trump expands the power of the federal government.

Who knows whether a Clinton administration would have been more damaging. Clinton would have caused a lot of problems, but ultimately just continued the country on the same path President Barack Obama paved. But at least our country wouldn’t have become the laughingstock that it now is with Trump as president. The Republican party needs to have some serious reform after this election and to take another look at the platform.

Alex Deitrich is a freshman history major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at amdeitri@syr.edu.

Published on November 9, 2016 at 10:12 am