Headlines from November 7, 2024 (from top left, clockwise: Washington Post, New York Times, Detroit Free Press, London Times) Due to potential safety concerns regarding political viewpoints expressed in this story, The Skyline Post has anonymized all quotes.
At 5:40 AM EST, November 6th, Associated Press called the 2024 Presidential election in Republican candidate Donald Trump’s favor. His victory marked the conclusion of a historic election season battle between Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
The world woke up to the news; Skyline students shared their reactions.
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I was texting my friends all night, and I was with my mom… I heard the news actually this morning. One of my friends texted me and she was just like, ‘I don’t know what to do anymore’. They didn’t even have to say, ‘Donald Trump won.’
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I felt surprised and I felt impending doom. I also had this really bad gut feeling.
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I mean, I felt like there wasn’t a huge surprise, especially since I heard this guy talk about how one of the candidates [was] gonna win all the swing states.
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I wasn’t actually surprised or depressed like others. [It] was kind of expected to me as someone who worked in the polls yesterday. And also, although it’s not the most satisfying result, I’m looking forward to see[ing] what he can do in the future.
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I felt sad and I felt terrified of what the next four years are gonna look like for me as a young woman growing up in this country. And honestly, this morning and all day, I have just not been able to stop thinking about all the millions of voters who are parents, who yesterday, went to the polls and voted for Donald Trump – and then it came home to their children and their daughters and said, ‘daughter, I voted against you, and I voted against your rights and your future, and I want you to grow up in a world where you don’t have the right to your own body.’ That’s just been what I’ve been thinking about all day. I just feel sad. Like, I feel sad for myself and for all the other people in this country who are losing their voice with the passing of this election.
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I lowkey did think Trump was gonna win. I knew he was gonna win, ever since he got shot. I lowkey relate [it] back to Kennedy. When Kennedy got shot, a lot of Republicans saw [it] as ‘this is bad because a Republican had [beliefs] they wanted to kill him.…. which like — human life is not worth that. So when Trump got shot and survived it – which is crazy, ’cause it did hit him, like, almost in the head – they saw it, almost like a symbol [of] something. That basically meant that he should be in office because he survived a gunshot. He’s willing to put his life on the line for our country. That’s kind of what it made it look like.
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I have been terrified that I will never be able to live the life I deserve. That the life that I have looked forward to is faltering further from reality. Waking up to the news was the quickest hope has ever left me. People who voted for him have been telling me that my fear is not warranted, but socially we are already going backwards. …I think we are on a slippery slope aimed towards something horrible. My identity is being stripped from me and people are happy about it.
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I’m just disappointed. I feel like everyone was very into the whole idea of it, and I thought we were gonna make progress. But we did make progress, of course – but [not the progress] we really wanted.
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I was scrolling through the news [after] I woke up, and then I saw [Trump’s win], and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s so interesting.’ Then again, Trump gave us extra money while he was president.
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I went to bed early, so this morning I woke up and I was anticipating the best, thinking Kamala won. I came downstairs and my dad was silent which was kind of weird. My dad came up to me and said ‘Trump won,’ and I was in complete disbelief. I’m really angry and I can sense everyone around me is really angry, especially my female friends and classmates. It feels like there is an elephant in the room not being addressed.
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[I felt] defeated, because I saw the results and it wasn’t even close.
Donald Trump, the 2024 President-Elect. (Unsplash) What was the feeling you got when you walked into school the morning after election day?
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It was like static noise. It was quiet, like you could tell who walked in the door with their head hung low today, and who walked in all dapper and excited. And it was just such an eerie feeling to see our school, of my peers and my friends and my classmates, so divided and some of them so defeated, while others were gloating. It was just kind of eye- opening to see that as such a school that focuses on so much unity.
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My first class was actually AP Government, and I was curious to see what they would discuss about it. I walked in and I was pretty sad, obviously, because I still hadn’t had the time to really reorganize myself or my emotions. But honestly, I just went on with it because we had a pretty good discussion during my first hour that a lot of people didn’t get to have because their teachers didn’t talk about it.
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I feel like everyone’s kind of sad. My first hour teacher, she couldn’t even teach. She was just kind of distraught. So I think there’s definitely a low mood today.
A row of voting booths. (Rawpixel) For many seniors, this election season is memorable as being their first time being eligible to vote.
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[Voting] was really cool. I was excited. It’s my first year voting, and it was very easy. They were very supportive of everyone. And, yeah, it was a super good experience.
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I mean, I’m not really into politics, no. But I vote, I want to vote, you know — be an American citizen.
Some Skyline students expressed that they wouldn’t vote, even if they could.
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[I wouldn’t vote], no, not this year. I knew that Trump was going to win the election, [so] I don’t think my vote would’ve really meant anything, because I thought he was gonna blow her out.
Kamala Harris rallying in Ann Arbor, MI a week before election day. (Mary Ellen Vance )
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Yes, I do follow politics. I follow the news — I like the New York Times, AP, Washington Post. I follow politics in other countries sometimes, if they pop up on my YouTube home feed. Social media is a good outlet for politics, but you always gotta make sure you don’t get into misinformation.
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No, I am not a big ‘politics’ person. I generally stay uninvolved because I don’t feel like I’m educated enough on so many topics to really have an opinion that’s valid against other people who have done their research – and I haven’t put in my research a lot of the time. [But] for this, it’s such a big deal that impacts my life in such a big way – and everybody’s life in such a big way– that I felt like I needed to be educated on this.
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Your friends shouldn’t change regardless of who you like or not. My friends I’m with, we don’t care about politics. So it shouldn’t really – it doesn’t really matter to us. But some people especially – like my family, they’re all democratic – so they’d expect me to be democratic as well. But I don’t choose either side, really.
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Yes, I follow politics. I can’t vote but I went to the [Kamala Harris] rally [in Ann Arbor] last week and am very much vocal to my friends and family. I encourage voter turnout heavily.
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I stay away from it, but I’m still interested in it. I think it’s kind of divisive. People believe their things really strongly and it creates division between people, I’ve noticed, so I just try to stay away from it a bit but I’m still interested in it.
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I’m most concerned about abortion rights, and inflation since prices are pretty high right now.
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I was focused on LGBTQ rights. I wanted to see that basic human rights were not taken away from people because of their identity.
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As an immigrant myself, [immigration] is one of the biggest policies that I follow. Also, the public health policies. Honestly, I felt like [neither candidate] really reflected myself that well; that’s why I wasn’t so disappointed when he was elected, nor happy. So, yeah, I was pretty neutral.
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I feel like, just in general, Trump, he just has horrible intentions behind every single decision that he makes. There’s a lot of specific policies, but just in general, it’s horrible. But policies like abortion or immigration — there’s so many, those are just a few. I liked Kamala’s policies more. I was really hopeful she would win, but I just really didn’t want Trump to be in office.
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Honestly, [abortion rights] was a big one. And I just feel like sexism in general. I mean, [Trump] is – again, I’m not the most educated person in politics, but he is a convicted felon. And I just honestly feel in watching his rallies and the things that he posts, and just following him, that he has very little respect for people who fall outside of his own demographic. So for women and for people of minority, minority groups – I’m Jewish – for Black people, for Hispanic people, for immigrants, for anybody who falls outside of his own demographic, I just feel like he has very little respect, and that concerns me a lot, and I feel like that was also reflected in the election, in electing a man who is a rich white man, a 34-time convicted felon, [and] sexual assaulter. [Also], all the racist things that he’s said in rallies. The whole Puerto Rico thing was really concerning to me – my family comes from Colombia. All of those things have stuck with me throughout this whole campaign, and that just kind of scares me.
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Well, definitely the right to abortion is very important, and I think the economy is important, but I don’t think Trump’s plan really helps or is going to help.
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I think it definitely catered towards my views that I already have. But I got some good answers, good statistics and stuff. I don’t fully know if it’s credible or not. I take everything with a grain of salt. But it’s definitely catered towards my views that I’ve already had; it hasn’t really changed me much.
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I think if it weren’t for social media, a lot of the younger population wouldn’t know what they know now, because they would have to go out and search for it. With social media, all the information is at the tip of your fingers – it’s at a second’s reach. And, yeah, I’m grateful for social media. I just think the misinformation that’s also spread is really dangerous to America.
Trump, the 45th and incoming 47th president. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead) With Trump as president-elect and a GOP majority in both Congress and the House of Representatives , there’s no doubt that things will look different in the coming four years.
The Skyline Post asked the question buzzing on everyone’s minds: what does the future of America look like?
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I mean, I think it’s gonna be fine. Like when Trump was president earlier, some stuff was different but it wasn’t the end of the world.
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I know that a lot of people are saying that America is divided, and I think that’s true to an extent. I’m afraid that people aren’t going to be able to cooperate, and they’re just going to keep spreading hate. I’m concerned about our generation and our future generations, and I just hope that this doesn’t turn into a dictatorship that threatens our democracy and our choices and our [place] in society.
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I think changes are going to happen a lot faster, because back when Trump first got elected, he really couldn’t do a lot of things – same as Biden – [because of the divided government]…. So [Trump] will probably be able to do a lot more things faster, but I don’t expect, like, crazy, crazy, big changes. [But] now, I really don’t know. I can’t predict nothing. I’m not gonna sit here and try and guess what’s gonna happen.
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I’m honestly scared. I don’t really know what the future holds, and I’m kind of scared to see even [how] the political climate of our country is so divided. … I’m very concerned that there’s going to be a lot of tension from people who are so far left and far right. Obviously, with so many seats in [Congress] being Republican, I’m afraid that all of the policies are going to go that way, because there’s not much opposition.
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[Joe Biden] was a disaster. So, you know, it’s gonna sling the other way.
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I think the country’s probably gonna be in a worse state than it was the last few years because we have a maniac running for – there’s gonna be a maniac in charge of this country.
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Well, the fact that red controls the entire executive and legislative is not… It’s looking a little bleak. But as long as we fight Project 2025, I think we’ll be okay. It’s only four years. But, yeah, it’s not looking great right now.
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I think that a lot of people turned to one side during this election this year, so I feel like it’s kind of going to be a repeat of when Trump was president last time – hopefully a little bit better, but I think that it will be okay. I think nothing terrible will happen.
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I feel like Trump has to play [it] kind of safe now, because I feel like he did some crazy things in his presidency last time. So I feel like he might tone it down a bit, but we’ll see what happens.
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I don’t know what’s going to happen to my family, friends, I don’t know if I will have the same rights.
What did you feel the morning after, when you saw the results?
