The College Fix

OPINION: A pair of Ivy Leaguers offers much-needed advice for their peers

It’s over. Donald Trump is the new Grover Cleveland.

For what it’s worth, regarding the TDS-afflicted trio I mentioned last weekend, the HS/college friend has yet to post anything post-election related on social media, and I haven’t heard a word from my relative (although a different relative posted a big black circle on one platform).

But the former First State teachers’ union bigwig really lost his marbles, writing that since his Trump-voting friends and family obviously don’t want him to be safe, he’s going to have to disassociate with all of them.

Incredible.

One might think there would be a good amount of self-examination among progressives about how Trump pulled off one of the greatest political comebacks in American history.

Alas, they’re hunkering down:

No self awareness! @lbarronlopez, a correspondent for PBS, while on CNN, blamed Kamala Harris loss on how “there is an entire right wing media ecosystem that doesn’t exist on the left and it does not exist in the center or mainstream.” pic.twitter.com/QKPjTGHhvO

— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) November 7, 2024

I’m watching CBC’s election stream, and it’s pure hysteria—calling Elon Musk a Russian agent and Donald Trump an authoritarian. @elonmusk should slap the government-funded label back on @CBCNews pic.twitter.com/kAKN9KE81Y

— Cosmin Dzsurdzsa (@cosminDZS) November 6, 2024

The Best Media MELTDOWNS of Trump’s 2024 Election Win pic.twitter.com/rxcZlay9KM

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 6, 2024

MORE: ‘Devastated’: Classes at Harvard, Penn, Columbia, Swarthmore and others canceled over Trump win

The college set isn’t any better; it’s arguably even worse. Look at what the editors of The Harvard Crimson put up the other day regarding Trump’s win:

–“I’ve cried a lot today […] dread fills me.”
–“I feel sickening fear for my friends that are transgender, non-citizen, or female.”
–“This is the second time I’ve watched in horror while our country elected Donald Trump.”
–“It’s a terrifying day to be an American.”
–“I woke up this morning to a text from my mom: ‘I love you. You live and study in a blue state. You are safe.’”
–“To the men who voted for Donald Trump, you are America’s strange and bitter crop.”
–“It is not okay. Everything will not be alright.”
–“I am dumbfounded.”

However, one (one!) Crimson editor, Julia Dan, saw the light:

We don’t know our neighbors. No one should have been surprised by the outcome of this election. But convinced by TikTok campaigns, echo chambers, and a complete sense of detachment from the prevailing values of the average American, Harvard students were still shocked. In the coming four years, the least we can do is step out of our ideological bubble and engage meaningfully with our compatriots.

There’s also an op-ed by Columbia University first-year law student TJ Gill titled “Racist, vile, and mean: Those damn conservatives,” in which he describes an interaction with a college pal:

In my eyes, voting for Trump was just a matter of political preference. “Surely, if someone you love and consider a good friend is voting for Trump, then it shows that not all Trump supporters are assholes,” I told my friend. “No,” she corrected me: “It means that I don’t actually know this person and that she might actually be racist.”

“Here [at Columbia], ‘conservative’ or ‘Republican’ is shorthand for stupid, racist, or evil,” Gill notes. But just because the president-elect engages in occasional absurdities and over-the-top rhetoric, this doesn’t automatically translate to the typical Trump voter being “racist or demented.”

Indeed. And based on so many recent events, especially the University of Oregon official who (stupidly) recorded himself telling Trump voters to kill themselves, universities should probably hire Dan and Gill (and those like them) to host trainings on how to actually listen … and behave reasonably.

MORE: Drinking games, tears: College students react to Harris loss

IMAGE: fotoandrea/Shutterstock.com

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter