By Taylor Allen

Twitter: @tayalllen0124

Donald Trump will become president on Jan. 20 and there is nothing that anyone can do about it. This is not a statement to sound bleak. Rather, it is simply stating a fact.

Trump will be the most powerful man in America.

He was elected the morning of Nov. 9, despite losing the popular vote. Jill Stein lost the battle of trying to get a re-count of votes in key states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Even if all the re-counts were approved, there was a minimal chance that the outcome would change. In addition, the Electoral College did not shift their votes on Dec. 19.

What now?

The simple answer is nothing.

The correct response would be to attack ideas rather than people.

There is no use in trying to attack the presidency. No matter how many times people tweet #NotMyPresident, it will not change the outcome. Everyone reserves the right to protest, it’s protected under the First Amendment. However, it should be noted that protesting Trump’s presidency is not going to lead to an impeachment.

He has that office and he has both the Senate and the House of Representatives on his side. Trump is not an “established” Republican, but he definitely has their support at this stage in his political career.

National politics are important. However, local and state politics will affect the average person’s life more. To the people whose only political participation is in November, every four years, I’m going to need you to sit down.

If you don’t vote for your mayor, your representative, your congressman, your board of education, you too are part of the problem. Trump is not a fluke. Trump, as a person, may have not been in the political atmosphere long, but his political ideologies definitely have been.

Trump is not the creator of sexism, xenophobia, ableism, homophobia, racism, and so on in our government. Granted, he is more blatant about it, but he did not invent this political climate. This is not an argument to jump on Trump’s bandwagon. Quite frankly, this election was so divisive that such an expectation is ludicrous.

No, this is an argument for people to do something productive.

If you hate Trump’s positions on immigration reform, write to your local representative or your congressman. Educate your peers. One of the biggest immigration reform advocacy groups in Pennsylvania is the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC). In essence, get involved.

There are also smaller options. If you despise what the rise of fake news has done to our political system, ensure that you only consume quality journalism. Recognize that certain Facebook friends probably don’t check their sources before they share an inflammatory article.

If you are worried about the future of women’s reproductive rights, donate to Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is the obvious choice, but there are local health centers as well such as Philadelphia’s Women’s Health Center.

There are simply so many better things to occupy a person’s time rather than to continue to defame Trump’s name. Here’s the truth, America doesn’t care about Trump’s negative press. The media focused on that during the entire election and he was still elected president.

I know the election was heartbreaking to a lot of people, myself included.

Now do something about it.