As many of you know already, the midterm elections just passed with the results still up in the air as of writing this. Many positions have been decided on by the people and whether or not we will see any major changes is up to the candidates who have taken the positions. However, what lots of people don’t know is that the people who wish to run for president in the next two years are already making moves, mainly former president Donald Trump.

Mr.Trump has had quite the turbulent presidency, and his name is well known across the country due to many controversial things that have happened in his circles. Regardless, the man has been planning to use the recent midterm elections to springboard a presidential campaign in order to get a second term in office. Some of the students at Tamut have expressed grievances with this idea. “The last time that man was in office it formed a huge divide between Americans, him getting a second term would harm us even more in my opinion.” Said an age 21 education major.

There was a bit more willingness to speak on former president Donald Trump among the student populace, most of the words negative or neutral. “I don’t know much now that the midterms happened, but Trump trying to use this to get ahead for the next elections…well its part of democracy. He has a right to try and get elected again, i’m not quite sure how it would affect me since I didn’t feel affected by his last election.” Said Ellie Andrade, a political science student, age 19. 

Despite some of the negative reactions among the students at the mention of Trump’s name, there seemed to be a bit of an “American spirit” when it came to talking about allowing Trump to run again. Many students seem to dislike Trump as a person, however since he’s only had a single term, they seemed to be somewhat alright with the idea that he is allowed a second term if he gets a majority vote. Many stated that they hoped he would not be put back into office, but in the spirit of fairness, they would bear with the consequences if he were to be placed in a second time. 

Of course not everyone was against the former president, some students hoped that he would get back into office. “Not every president does all good or all bad, most are a mixed bag, and some get blamed for the mistakes of their predecessor. I personally don’t care much for either party, but I’d vote Trump back in. It just seems like the lesser of two evils.” Said a social work major, age 20. This opinion was by far much less popular, but not entirely non-existent.

Overall there was a mixed bag of emotions, however the unanimous idea among students seemed to be allowing Trump to run again to be fair. Even if they disagree with much of what he stands for, the students who dislike him know the importance of a fair and balanced system of government so they will tolerate Trump’s second campaign attempt.

With midterm elections coming up on the 8th of November this year, around 35 of the 100 senate seats and all 435 house seat positions are becoming available for election. It is important that young men and women know who and what they are voting for in addition to what it could imply for the future of our country.  However, whenever politics comes up in conversations people either have a lot to say, or nothing to say at all. With students now being old enough to enter the voting pool, their opinions on such things will begin to matter far more than before. 

The students here at TAMUT didn’t seem particularly fond of talking about politics, some students embracing the old adage “In polite company, you should never discuss politics and religion.” Those who were willing to speak however, didn’t seem to know that the midterm elections even existed. “Midterms? Oh I’m done with those. Wait, you mean like, voting midterms? Those are a thing?” Said one Male computer science major, age 20.  

There also seemed to be a bit of uncomfortable air when speaking on the subject. Like giving the wrong answer would make you look bad or cause some sort of consequence. “I don’t know much about the midterms, but I’d rather not even talk about politics. There’s a very high chance that I could lose all my friends and even some family if I told them who I wanted to vote for,” Said one Male Nursing student, age 19. 

With the exception of the previous two cases many other students refused to speak on the subject, either because they weren’t knowledgeable on the topic or because they simply just didn’t care. And why would they care at this point in their lives? Many have more pressing concerns such as passing their own individual midterms in their classes and working jobs if they have them. This leaves little room to do research on the midterm elections, especially when the midterms aren’t advertised as frequently or given as much weight as the Presidential elections seem to be given. And with how much research one would have to do to understand all of the 400+ open positions, what each of them means, who is running, and what those people each promises to do, it’s quite daunting. The average young person would simply rather not bother than look into it.

The faculty and older generation seem to be a bit more relaxed when talking about subjects such as this, although more relaxed does not equal comfortable. There was still a bit of tip toe-ing around the subject matter whenever discussing these topics, and in the end it boiled down to “Do what you think is best for the country, however consider the consequences for not just yourself, but for others as well,” which is good general advise, but it is vague and doesn’t get to the root of our problems.

Politics seems to be quite the touchy subject on campus, and with all of these negative connotations combined with the fact that students don’t seem to know much about the subject in the first place. It’s a brew that could be potentially very bad for the political future if it’s something that continues past this stage in life.

Kris Williams is a 30 year old culinary arts student graduate from Texarkana Arkansas who is employed as a chef in the TAMUT kitchen cooking for students. He cooked for his family when his mom was injured growing up, then attended culinary school in September of 2007, where he learned how to cook international food as his passion. “…one whole semester was nothing but international recipes and foods and that was amazing.”

He uses his extensive knowledge of food in addition to his social skills in order to brighten the days of students. “Baking and cheesecakes, I love making desserts…” The company Chart Wells caught his eye once he graduated, and he decided to help them provide better and healthier food to students where he could. 

Although he despises the heat of Texas he doesn’t want to go anywhere else professionally since he feels that he is much better suited to this community. He feels that the people here have a tight knit community and he’s proud to have contributed to it. “If we’re talking straight professionalism, I wouldn’t go anywhere else…”