Donald Trump is an abhorrent excuse for a human being. He’s impulsive, easy to manipulate, and dangerous. His actions and policies will be bad for the country. That being said, his level of extremism has given us one good thing – it’s galvanized people to push back and become much more aware.

Over the past few decades, the United States has become increasingly conservative. It’s always been a country that considers non-American lives unimportant. It’s a country of great wealth and enormous inequality. A country that’s spent a huge part of its existence involved in wars around the world. A country where PoC, immigrants, and women have had their rights under constant attack. And yet nothing has caused as many people to unite against something as this election has. The reason for that may be distasteful, but it’s still clear – it’s because Trump is an unpresidential, deplorable caricature. It has even more to do with who he is than it does with what he’s doing.

In a way, it’s a good thing. Had any other person been elected, the complacency of the general populace would have continued. There would be far fewer calls to Congresspeople and Senators. The number and value of donations to various non profits that do incredible work would be much lower. There would be significantly less of a push for the Democratic Party to take a stand beyond a safe middle ground.

Right now, people are engaged. People are angry, and rightly so. People want to see this country move in a positive direction, and are ready to resist the attempts and tearing down every inch of progress that’s been made over the years. It’s essential that we don’t waste that.