(This is the conclusion of a series. Click here to read part one and here to read part two)

For people whose political perspectives run down the middle like myself, we were so alienated by the far left that we searched for a reason to like Trump. Personally, I tried to look past who he was as a person and examine his politics. The problem in doing that was, there was nothing to really analyze. Trump’s position on issues changed so erratically and so regularly it was like grasping at air. Although his policies were posted online for all to read, Trump contradicted himself so many times that it was impossible to get a firm grip on what his presidency would look like.

But despite this, I know a lot of people who voted for him- and not just white people. I know black people, gay people, Native Americans and Mexicans who all cast their ballot for Trump.

In the end, I think a lot of people were just tired of the status quo. Barack Obama had promised change, and while he did do some good during his time as president, the overwhelming majority of his eight years in office represented more of the same. More bombs and bailouts, more crony capitalism, more pillaging of the middle class, and more struggle for average Americans. There were no amount of rappers, singers, athletes and celebrities the Obama’s could cozy up to that would hide the fact that President Obama wasn’t what he presented himself as- or at least, he wasn’t strong enough to stand up against the Military-Industrial Complex and Wall Street. Sadly, the idealistic senator who went on to become president had folded and played their game, and a lot of people lost what little faith they had left in the system because of it.

President Obama was an odd phenomenon. Many of us- both white and black, and all shades in between- felt landlocked by his race. It was hard to openly criticize him without being swept away by the underlying current of racial politics that flowed beneath his office. If you were black, you risked being exiled from the community at large, and if you were white you risked being labelled a bigot. During the near decade that Obama was president, the far left had been allowed to run amok and most of us who spoke the truth or dared to oppose them were silenced by accusations of selling out or prejudice.

Beneath the surface, resent had long been brewing and I think this is why America voted for Trump. The far left had cried wolf so many times, had made so many accusations and condemnations against people who were merely thinking for themselves rather than blindly following the hive mind, and had blurred the lines of reality so often that a part of the population voted purely out of spite for the so-called “progressive” movement.

I am of the belief that this was the deciding factor. There was always going to be a percentage of the population that would vote for either Trump or Clinton no matter what they did, but it was the undecided and the centrists who would sway towards the right. In a strange turn of events, the DNC’s plan to flip the support for Bernie Sanders into a Clinton victory had backfired disastrously, and many of his supporters either didn’t vote at all, voted for a third party or voted for Trump out of contempt for what the Democrats had done to Sanders.

Myself personally, I took great pleasure in watching Rachel Maddow, Trevor Noah, John Oliver and the like have the smug smirk wiped so swiftly off of their faces. For far too long the talking heads of the liberal media machine had conveniently reported half-truths, misinformation and outright lies. If “alternative facts” were a real thing, then the left was just as guilty of perpetuating them as the right was, and it felt good to watch the liberal media flail in the fires of karma.

But was it worth it though? Was four years of Trump worth the neoliberal meltdown?

That remains to be seen, but I do take comfort in knowing that America’s relationship with Russia may be restored in the near future*. In the years leading up to Trump’s election, The United States (and friends) had engaged in a series of aggressive political and military actions towards Russia, and the world edged closer to another Cold War with every soldier that set foot along the Russian borders. There is no doubt in my mind that Hillary Clinton would have continued along this path and eventually plunged the world into all-out war. Regardless of how unethical Trump’s relationship with Russia might be- and I’m inclined to believe it’s substantially more unethical than we know- we should all breathe a sigh of relief for the potential of peace between the two world powers that is once again on the horizon. Whether you agree with Putin’s politics or not, a war between the United States and Russia could potentially turn nuclear, and would mean catastrophe for the entire planet from ocean to ocean.

Relations with Russia aside, I’m still on the fence with my feet hovering above the left. However, because Trump has been so vilified by the mainstream media, I’ve been doing a fair amount of digging to establish an unbiased perspective of the bigger picture.

As of right now (2/07/2017), the trending issue of the day is Trump’s temporary ban on refugees and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries. As expected, in the days after the order was signed, protesters had descended upon airports where immigrants are being held or turned away, and the US is once again divided among two equally misinformed sides. But here’s what the media isn’t telling you; the framework for this temporary ban on immigrants from these countries was created by the Obama Administration and enacted upon by Trump. I’ll write it again and in plain English so it’s clear: this temporary ban on Muslims from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen is not a Trump creation, it is Obama’s (here’s a link to a great blog post about it for more information).

This is a prime example of how the media- in this case, the liberal media- glosses over important facts in order to sell a story. Nowhere in popular media has the Obama Administration’s involvement in this temporary ban been highlighted- and if it has, it’s been suppressed as much as possible. The ongoing narrative is one where Trump the Nazi is imposing his fascist agenda on the United States and not the true narrative where Trump the inexperienced president is enacting and expanding on orders created by the administration before him.

By no means am I defending Trump, but truth is important- especially when you’re trying to make sense of the world around you. I feel a great deal of empathy for the displaced people fleeing war zones or trying to return to the United States, but a closer look into the vetting process of refugees coming from countries in conflict with the US is necessary considering the issues many European countries have had in regards to refugees from these countries. While the vast majority of Muslims themselves are peaceful people, there are Jihadist groups with non-Muslim people in their cross hairs, and this is an undeniable fact. Although an argument can be made for why such deep-seated hatred for the United States and other western nations exists amongst these groups, it is our government’s responsibility to protect its citizens from such threats. I only wish Canada would take steps towards fixing our own vetting process, but unfortunately our Prime Minister is too weak and too stupid to do anything.

I have many concerns regarding President Trump and his cabinet of industry super villains- mainly his stance on climate change, public land, fossil fuels, pipelines, financial deregulation and the crony capitalism that follows- and I have no doubt that we are entering into another era of neoconservative anarchy, but I’m going to do the reading and keep searching for the truth. There are two sides to every story, and the facts are normally buried somewhere deep down in the middle.

In closing, I would like to encourage all of you to do the same; stay in tune and stay vigilant. If there is a silver lining to all of this ideological chaos it’s that for the first time ever, a US president will spend every waking moment in office under the public microscope. Don’t fall for the media’s lies and don’t get pulled into the hive mind so prevalent in society and on social media. Think for yourselves- even if it means standing alone. Truth will rarely be pleasant, but it will always deliver.

Peace.

*To be clear, I mean the US and Russia won’t be going to war with each other. They will never be BFF’s.