From ‘Brexit’ to #MAGA: Election aftermath reinforces millennial stereotypes

After Great Britain voted to leave the European Union, and after we saw voting data from various age groups, there was a backlash by young people who felt somehow robbed by older generations who mostly voted to leave. They thought the outcome unfair because their elders wouldn’t live as long and therefore wouldn’t have as much at stake in their country’s future. “Today an older generation has voted to ruin the future for the younger generation. I’m scared,” someone tweeted. This is nothing less than an immature and selfish view of one’s place in the democratic process.

Donald Trump’s victory proved that the ‘Brexit’ wave of populist nationalism crossed the Atlantic, but with it came that same sense of shock, sadness, and anger among millennials on the losing side who felt they had a monopoly on “progress” – only to get thrown into bankruptcy. (President Obama, after all, had told them, “Progress is on the ballot.”) In this congested aftermath, they point to maps that showed a landslide Clinton victory if only people like themselves voted. They claim that that is a mandate for those who will assume the reins of government to kowtow to their desires.

But I have some bad news for you, fellow millennials: It’s not all about you.

Your notorious sense of self-importance was inflated by your cultural primacy in the 21^st century – no doubt largely shaped by social and mass media. You had both on your side, but in this instance too much of a good thing gave you false hopes. Your relentless activism, your online groups, and your favorite shows that featured celebrities paling around with your candidate – all that could only do so much until it backfired. And boy did it ever.

When the dust settles, you must come to terms with how you underestimated how much political sway the Silent Majority holds in America. It had been dormant the last few elections, but it’s still very much alive. Donald Trump awakened and energized it to fundamentally change the electoral map. He was the voice of the forgotten men and women, a group which you simply are not a part of. To say that they “took” this election from you is in tune with the character of your generation: selfish, stubborn, and obnoxious.

America is as much the Baby Boomers’ and the Silent Generation’s country as it is yours. Your “me first” attitude has made this hard to palate, as does the fact that you have saddled yourselves with a supreme sense of self-worth no matter the circumstance. Trump’s election repudiated where you thought you stood, and now, hopefully, you will be humbled as to your role in political affairs.

But as I write this, stories are quickly rolling in about how you are marching out of schools, requesting cancellations of classes due to the “emotional distress” of Trump’s win, and forming “safe spaces” to recover from “severe harm.” You are forming large-scale, sometimes violent protests nationwide that have taken on an anti-democracy, anti-police, and anti-America life of their own. You are blindly and ignorantly charging ahead with the old, unfounded assertions of racism, sexism, and homophobia. You are saying Trump is “not my president.” You have created a petition to impeach him because you don’t like him.

I see no sign of this stopping, and so I have slim hopes that you will indeed be humbled from this point onwards. To compound the matter, your current actions are what helped Trump win in the first place. You unintentionally converted undecided voters who were disgusted by your irresponsible and illogical behavior, but you were too busy living in your own echo chamber to foresee the broader consequences. And it remains an issue.

After all of those whom you called racist and against whom you protested voted against your candidate who lost, do you either: 1) double down on identity politics, perpetuate a stifling atmosphere of political correctness, and ramp up the protests, or 2) reevaluate your methods of persuading people to see your side of things? Right now you’re choosing option one – and you don’t realize why you’re wrong.

I’ve read many of your thoughts on social media about how it is unfathomable that Trump has won. No, it’s not – not when you act entitled, not when you say how old white men shouldn’t matter, and not when you degrade others with tactics that fuel their ammunition against you.

The election of Donald Trump and Great Britain’s ‘Brexit’ vote represent many things. One of them is a repudiation of the majority of millennials’ worldviews and the means they have sought to achieve them. If they can’t now take a look in the mirror and realize this, then they should expect more losses in the future.