President Donald Trump’s decisions during first month in office cause backlash among his supporters

As President Donald Trump’s first month in office comes to an end, Americans have now gotten a peek into what the next four years may look like. Unfortunately, it’s not looking too great. Bans, walls, repeal of healthcare – you name it and President Trump probably has a detrimental plan for it.

As a result, I find myself questioning from day-to-day: who put this man in office? Surely, as an American, you can only ever hope that the country will be viewed as a beacon of hope to all those who live in it. Yet, whenever I scroll down to the comments section of any political video these days, I always seem to come across at least a handful of people who comment on their loss of hope for our nation’s politics. As a result, those who once supported Trump and his campaign are now particularly becoming easier to find.

The supporters who are now regretting their vote for President Trump shouldn’t  be frowned upon, but instead should serve as a learning experience.

If the now-regretful Trump supporters had done more research into his policies rather than taking his motto: “Make America Great Again” at face value — perhaps we, as a nation, could have avoided this situation. It doesn’t take much to inform yourself. A couple minutes a day would do. Proactive research, analyzing, learning about certain policies and what they mean, can lead to a better understanding of the situation beforehand.

A testimony to these sentiments manifests itself in a Twitter page that was set up by a student from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Canada, was filled with re-tweets from those now regretful Trump voters. With a handle worthy of its tweets, @Trump_Regrets is filled with re-tweets that contain comments such as one by @Richk515,who tweeted, “please let go of your ego. Even i’m embarrassed and i voted for you.” Another by @Dieggiittoo flat out read, “I shouldn’t have voted for trump :/ ”

The Twitter page, which now has over 200,000 followers and over 1,000 re-tweets, made me question: why regret now? Trump announced his run for presidency in mid-2015. From the time of the announcement, there was plenty of time to do research. In fact, there were various outlets from which citizens could get their information from; newspapers, radio, online sources, even social media. Of course, because there is the possibility of fake news, fact-checking websites also became increasingly popular. For example, a site set up by the Washington Post, served people with an intent to deliver the pure facts. Consequently, supporters definitely had plenty of time to do the research and learn about the effects that Trump’s ideas would have on the U.S. if implemented.

During the presidential election, Trump’s official slogan became, “Make America Great Again,” a slogan which supporters felt they could relate with. During election season, Cosmopolitan Magazine shared a video in which they asked Trump supporters a series of questions. In response to the question of whether Trump is a positive role model, one supporter expressed, “If we need a bully to take over this election and get things done, that’s what’s going to have to happen.” I began to notice that a lot of these supporters weren’t the stereotypical white, racist, xenophobic individuals I often see on social media. Many people had faith that Trump would put America first. That he would make a difference in Washington politics, that he would care for all people living in America.

At the very least, Donald Trump’s presidency has voters more involved with the election. A Pew Research Center study found that 85 percent of voters had expressed that they were closely following the 2016 election. More inclusively, the study stated that 80 percent of registered voters expressed that they thought “quite a lot” about the election.

The study also showed that no group of voters had shown this much concern over an election since the 2008 elections. While a greater number of voters did stay tuned for past election, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they researched it any more than the few previous elections –which, further reinforces the need to keep oneself thoroughly informed when the well being of billions of people is at hand

Kanye West used his visibility as a public figure to post tweets in support of Trump, but has since deleted his pro-Trump tweets following the president’s executive order for the travel ban on the seven Muslim majority countries. While West’s label had no comment on the matter, it was easy to conclude that West has become a regretful Trump supporter.

The regrets of the past supporters isn’t something that should be forever frowned upon because at the end of the day, we are all human and just like anyone else, we are all prone to making mistakes.

Still, in an age where almost anything is accessible with a quick touch of our phones, I believe that people should definitely be more than willing to try and educate themselves about the politics of the country. To take the initiative and try to learn more about the policies, orders, laws, and the affects that those may have on all its citizens, because for better or worse, that is what will define the future of our country.