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Topekans are experiencing a wide range of emotions following Trump’s election
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Topekans are experiencing a wide range of emotions following Trump’s election

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A variety of emotions, from happiness to distress, were expressed in Topeka Wednesday morning over the election of Donald Trump as president.

“I liked the result,” Darrel Savage said. “I’m a conservative and I appreciate having Trump in his place.”

Susan McClain disagreed.

“We picked a convicted felon for crying out loud,” he said.

Susan McClain: ‘I think this is a sad day for America’

Savage and McClain were among those who spoke with a Capital-Journal reporter who walked through downtown Topeka Wednesday morning and approached people to ask their thoughts on the outcome of Tuesday’s election.

Although most people were not willing to comment, McClain said he had strong feelings about what happened.

“I think this is a sad day for America,” he said.

McClain and a friend were sitting outside the downtown office building where they worked, taking a smoke break.

He said Tuesday’s election result surprised McClain.

McClain said he fears Trump remaining in power could lead to violence, loss of civil liberties and civil rights, and lack of acceptance of people “who are not like the winning side.”

Matt Behrens fears we’ll become ‘more divided as a country’

Matt Behrens, who said Tuesday’s result wasn’t much of a surprise, said polls show Americans are split roughly 50/50 between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.

Still, Behrens expressed disappointment with the result.

He said that his biggest concern in the future is that “we will become even more divided as a country.”

Darrel Savage: ‘Maybe we can go back to our roots as a nation’

Savage said he was surprised that the outcome of Tuesday’s election became clear so quickly that evening, compared to other recent presidential elections.

“It looks like the Senate is going to go back to the Republicans,” he said. “I hope we can keep the Parliament as well.”

Savage said he spoke while taking a “sun break” from his job in downtown Topeka.

Moving forward, Savage said: “Maybe we can go back to our roots as a nation and get the economy back on track.”

Matthew Hailes: ‘I hope things get better’

Matthew Hailes said the outcome of Tuesday’s election went “about the way I thought it would.”

“Politically, I would prefer Trump to win, but I don’t think it’s the end of the world one way or another,” he said.

“I hope things get better,” Hailes said.

Shane Danielsen: ‘One of the scariest things that’s ever happened to me’

Shane Danielsen, an Australian native who lives in Los Angeles, was not allowed to vote in Tuesday’s election but expressed strong feelings about the results.

“I think this is one of the scariest things that’s ever happened to me in my life,” he said.

Danielsen was walking his dog in downtown Topeka, where he and his wife stopped on their way back to Los Angeles from Winnipeg, Canada.

“I wanted to stop and see as many beautiful American cities as possible, and I was told it was one of the best, so here we are,” he said.

Danielsen said he was dismayed by Trump’s election, partly because he thought Trump was “bad” and “unworthy of office.”

“And his position is fascist, and I don’t say that lightly, because I was a history student and lived in Berlin for six years,” Danielsen said. “I have seen the result of 20th century fascism, and now it has returned to its 21st century form.”

On a more personal basis, Danielsen said he was born in 1967 and grew up in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s, and saw the United States “represent an ideal to which we aspire, the ‘shining city on the hill’.” A better term.”

The United States was at the time both a “world power” and a “noble power as long as these things were simple,” Danielsen said.

He said that with the election of Trump, the United States lost all this.

“Any moral responsibility has been abdicated to lead the world,” Danielsen said.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at [email protected] or 785-213-5934.