Waking up that morning in the hotel, I thought it was just going to be an ordinary day…

But I’ve been wrong before.

I was in downtown Indianapolis for the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention, along with some amazing people from HHS’s newspaper The Voice and yearbook The Chieftain. We were there from Thursday, Nov. 10 to Sunday, Nov. 13.

As a group, all of us were walking from dinner that Saturday night in the bitter cold. But something just did not seem right in the air.

Quiet and faint, but within earshot, there were chants and yelling. Many groups of actively engaged people were crowding the sidewalks and blocking off intersections as they were marching. This could only mean a protest − and it was a huge one.

The yelling became louder and the words more distinct as I walked closer, completely captivated by this you-don’t-see-this-every-day moment.

I frantically and hastily grabbed my phone to capture the protest, and I felt myself getting drawn closer (don’t worry, I had company) because of the excitement of seeing people embrace their First Amendment rights. I was proud.

I blended into the crowd, but did not partake in their protest.

After this year’s historical Nov. 8 election and a lot of devastated Americans, it was pretty evident (and frankly, not very surprising) what the protest was about − even without looking at the signs.

“He’s not my president,” read some signs. “Love trumps hate,” read others. There were several more signs being held proudly and high in the air that day. And they were various signs, some of which had vulgar words and phrases that would get me in trouble if I said them in front of my parents.

But I wouldn’t have said any of the words read on the signs anyway, or even joined the protest. Otherwise I wouldn’t mean it.

Why? I support Donald Trump.

I’m a Republican, and I support a majority of their views. Growing up and living in a Christian family, I knew that when I decided my political party, I wanted it to resonate with what I believe. And I chose to support Trump because he stands for a lot of what I believe is best for our nation.

I can imagine some of you gasping at my audacity to proudly state that. But please, before you scramble for cash to pay for tomatoes to throw at me, read to the end and reconsider. Otherwise, I can always recover. And take a shower.

I felt like an outsider there, as I am among many of my friends, who are either Hillary Clinton supporters, completely anti-Trump, or choose not to partake in the hype of this particular presidential race.

So did I hold in a burning hate for the protesters I was surrounded by? Wrong.

I respected the protesters, because their opinion is just as valuable as mine. Opinions are meant to be heard, but should not forcefully demand others to concede. So I let them seize this opportunity to be heard, and I did not deprive them of their voice.

I didn’t agree with them because I believe Donald Trump will make a great president. He will live up to his campaign slogan.

But please know this: I do not think Trump is a perfect person (no one is); I do not agree with every single thing he stands for. I do acknowledge that there have been a few things Trump has said and done that cannot be justified.

I’ll reiterate: he is not a perfect person − but that doesn’t make Clinton the right choice either. I do not appreciate his lack of maintaining his filter, because it has gotten him in trouble many times before. He should think before he speaks, mindful of others around him.

However, this shows that he has nothing to hide. Whereas many other politicians come off as shady if they feel they have to meticulously plan out and be careful of their every word and move.

They’re too concerned about being politically correct. This makes us skeptical and uncertain of them. Manipulative, sneaky, and deceitful politicians rise from this practice.

And we’ve had these kinds of politicians lead our country before. It’s time the pendulum swings the other way.

I believe a lot of people’s views of Trump are distorted, especially because of the media. The media can’t always be trusted. We’ve known this for a long time, and it is virtually impossible to prove this wrong.

Trump is not a racist or xenophobe. Trump is not a homophobe. Many of his comments on women are taken out of context.

Trump has many supporters of different ethnic backgrounds, who all choose to develop their own opinion of Trump by what only they observe, and dismiss whatever the media is saying. I urge you to watch videos of these Trump supporters stating their opinion.

The wall: there is clearly no hateful intentions behind building one. No one in their right mind run for president and build a wall because he has a burning hate for those of different ethnicities.

Illegal immigration is a problem; that’s all it comes down to. America’s policies for immigrants need to be changed drastically, because we have to pay extra taxes because of the jobs the illegal immigrants are taking.

Do not take Trump’s policies out of context and stamp “racist” on his forehead.

Also, when Trump did not want the Mexican-descent judge to have presided over the class action against Trump University, he wanted to make sure that the ruling was fair no matter what. Trump knows the judge can do his job, of course, but he wouldn’t know for sure if the ruling would lean against him because of the judge’s Mexican heritage and Trump’s label as a racist.

And Muslims: he believes terrorism to be a huge threat to our country; he wants our country to be safe and secure. There’s no hate against Muslims whatsoever. If he was full of hate for our nation’s people, he would not go this far as to protect the United States of America from ISIS. Yet, he promises to go further than that.

Additionally, according to MSNBC in April of this year, Trump was on a talk show and he truthfully said that Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, could use any bathroom she likes at his Trump buildings because of her transgender status. Jenner put his statement to the test and asked the receptionist at Trump’s hotel for the bathroom, and the receptionist did not deprive her of going to the bathroom of her choice, just like Trump had promised.

I’m sorry, tell me again why he’s homophobic?

And Trump’s comments about women. I believe that many of his comments are immature and inappropriate as he is going to become our next president. But some of his comments are taken completely out of context by the media. The media’s reasonings − behind labeling Trump as a misogynist because of certain comments − are ludicrous assumptions.

Please take whatever Donald Trump says at face-value. It is unprofessional and immature to read more into one’s words and manipulate it, deceiving the viewers of what one really means.

It just is unbelievable how the media twists all of this and more. The way the media portrays Trump is so fallacious and deceptive.

This is not the same America as it was founded.

Junior Zach Spencer posted a tweet the day after the election, addressing the division we are bringing upon ourselves because many are disowning our future 45th President of the United States.

“United we stand, divided we fall,” Spencer said. “The nation has spoken in this election. #HesNotMyPresident should end. This is the UNITED States.”

America, we chose Donald Trump. Whether you like it or not.

But we are going to have him as our president for the next four years. It is heartbreaking to see others’ opinions divide them from other Americans who think differently. It’s immature, uncooperative, and disuniting.

If you don’t think Trump will “Make America Great Again,” our country is not going to become that much greater if we are going to continue allowing our own walls to come up between us, others, and our president.

Donald Trump offered us to become a part of this new journey. I encourage all of us to dismiss our resentment and break down those walls. Let’s come together to bring our nation to a better state of being.

No longer will we stand around while everything else is falling apart, just because we choose to isolate ourselves simply because we do not like what we see. Life should not go on that way.

America is ours too. How about we all make America great again?