Garnering 312 electoral votes, the majority in both the U.S. Senate and House and the largest popular vote count in Republican history, the Republican victory in the U.S. Presidential Election on Nov. 5 has taken over headlines. Looking at social media, it seems this victory came as a shock to many, but for a lot of Americans, this result was anything but surprising.

I was 19 years old when I saw Afghan citizens attempting to hang on to a United States military jet leaving Afghanistan via X, formerly known as Twitter. Men fell to their deaths. This was the Afghanistan pullout, in which 13 Americans and over 100 Afghans died in a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate outside of Kabul Airport, according to a statement from the White House.

I was 19 still when Russia invaded Ukraine. We, my friends and I, never thought Ukraine would hold out this long, but we also expected an off-ramp to the war. It never came, and billions of our taxpayer dollars sit in Ukraine, still with no off-ramp.

I was 20 years old when we traded a Russian known as “The Merchant of Death” for WNBA star Brittney Griner, all the while former marine Paul Whelan was left behind in a Russian jail cell, as seen in NBC news.

I was 21 when Laken Riley died. A college student at Augusta University — she was killed by someone not legally in America for the crime of going for a run on the University of Georgia’s campus.

I was 21 still when over 1,200 men, women and children were murdered in Israel on October 7, 2023. As someone who has relatives in the Middle East, conflict is never off the mind, yet somehow, we remain unable to end this one.

Kamala Harris ran campaign advertisements in Pennsylvania and Michigan. In Pennsylvania, one advertisement said that she would fight for Israel’s right to defend itself. In Michigan, one advertisement showed a clip where Vice President Harris said “We cannot be numb to the suffering, [in Gaza] and I will not be silent,” compared in an article from CNN.

When Donald Trump was asked his opinion on who should win the Russia-Ukraine war, his answer was simple.

“I want people to stop dying,” Trump said to a CNN anchor in May of 2023.

Somehow, in the aftermath of this election, many Americans feel as though they are being told that they are the problem. That they have failed women because Harris promised to enshrine abortion in federal law.

As someone who did not vote for Donald Trump, the majority of Americans did not vote for him in hopes that he would outlaw abortion.

The majority of Americans voted for Trump not for his words, but for his successes. Trump was the first president in American history to enter office being pro-gay marriage. While some of his appointees in his first term were not in favor of it, he went into office wanting legal gay marriage as the standard going forward, something even former President Barack Obama did not do in 2008. Trump even started a campaign to legalize homosexuality all around the world.

In the aftermath of this election, Hamas has stated its interest in ending the conflict with Israel. Vladimir Putin has said that he is ready to enter negotiations with Trump to end the war in Ukraine, and popular brand Steve Madden is cutting Chinese operations by 50% within the next year.

Trump proceeded to make history with his first cabinet pick, making a woman chief of staff for the first time in American history.

To the Americans who voted for Trump, this was not an election in which voting a certain way would lead to “The Handmaid’s Tale.” To them in fact, on a world stage, this was one that would end it.

In the aftermath of the Afghanistan pullout, it is now illegal for women in Afghanistan to have anything but their eyes uncovered, they cannot receive formal education past middle school, they cannot have their voices heard in public and they cannot see male doctors, according to The Washington Post, effectively banning them from any sort of medical care.

However, if you turn on the mainstream press, you will often see reporters implying that the election result is the fault of Americans for not caring enough about women. For example, a district on the southern border that is 97% Hispanic in Texas voted 75% in favor of Trump. When this was brought up on the popular show “The View,” host Sunny Hostin claimed it was “misogyny and sexism” that caused this.

The Americans who voted for Trump want stability on the world stage and money in their pockets. At that point, their interest in social issues rises. This was a referendum on how we stand on the world stage.

On behalf of Americans, this is the reason Trump will be the leader of the free world for the next four years. No election ever stopped the world from spinning. Keep vocalizing your beliefs. Discourse of ideas has always brought fruitful change in America. This election will not change that.