Over the past few years, shirts, bumper stickers, and signs have displayed the common phrase “Not My President.” February 20 of 2017 became known as Not My President’s Day because there was a series of protests against President Donald Trump. No matter who becomes president this year, Democrat or Republican, Biden or Trump, we must realize that he is our president, otherwise we will never have the unity that is in our country’s name.

Watching the news during Election Day and the following days, I heard someone say that we need to trust our fellow Americans. The race is extremely close this year. As of Thursday, each candidate had approximately the same amount of votes as the entire population of France, and experts are estimating that this election had the largest voter turnout in history. While our political views may be different, do we not believe in the people around us? The teachers, doctors, friends, and family members that we admire, do we not trust their choices? 

America has had enough struggles in 2020, so we must be less stubborn. Even though your choice of president may have lost, that does not mean you should defy the true president through protest and refusal to work with him. What does burning down a business do? What does ruining your own city, your own home, do? On the other hand, if your choice of president won, you should remain open to ideas from the other side. The split between Democrats and Republicans has grown exponentially over the past few years, and if that keeps growing then we will be in trouble. What do other nations see when Americans claim that their president is not their president?

Let’s lay the facts out: both politicians have done at least some good during their times as Vice President or President. Biden, during his time as VP or as a senator, was a primary sponsor of the Protect Our Children Act of 2008 and the Violence Against Women Act. He has also promoted many foreign policies, including expanding NATO to include multiple other European nations and pushing for U.S. intervention in the Yugoslov Wars. President Trump, although many people may not admit it because of his unique demeanor, has also done good things for our country. He restricted travel to China early on in the COVID-19 outbreak despite the controversy surrounding the idea. In the beginning, Biden said that Trump had a “record of hysteria, xenophobia and fear-mongering,” but during the last few months he has gone back on his claims and said that the president downplayed the virus. No matter what conflicts there were regarding the restrictions, we need to look at the fact that his decision to restrict travel was very important to the safety of Americans. Also during his presidency, Trump improved the economy, at least before the COVID-19 outbreak, by creating millions of jobs and dropping unemployment rates to record lows.

With all of that being said, let’s choose the well being of our country rather than focusing on political parties. We need to come together and accept what the people have chosen, whether we support the presidential choice or not. If this acceptance happened four years ago, I know that it would have helped us, people of the United States, live up to our name a little more.