I never thought, not in a million years, that I would be endorsing Mr. Donald J. Trump as the next president of the United States.

I did not endorse Trump in any way until Marco Rubio, the candidate I truly believed in and wanted to win, dropped out of the presidential race. So, I grew to support Trump long after his campaign first began.

An unlikely candidate

Among other things, my political views are not entirely conservative ones.

Although I lean right, I differ from the party on issues like abortion. I believe that just like everyone else, it is a woman’s constitutional right to do whatever she wants to do with her body.

I have also always supported same-sex marriage. Because of my personal relationships with those close to me, I grew up understanding that love is love, and all men and women are truly created equal. Everyone should have the right to choose whom they want to marry.

However, when it comes to the military, small government, genuine environmental issues, taxing and spending, I am a true conservative.

Also, government regulation, constitutional rights, equal opportunity and social justice for all under the law are other issues I take a conservative stance on. I believe that capitalism is the fairest system that has ever been created.

When I first started to consider whether to hop on the “Trump Train,” I remember thinking to myself, “What does the moral person who recognizes that Clinton is waging war on women and minorities do when her opponent has his own imperfections?”

What does a person of self-worth, integrity and decency do if they are fully aware that Clinton’s corruption remains unprecedented at the national level, to this day?

Among other things, I contemplated the threat posed to the existence of the “American Dream” and the future of the Supreme Court. After coming up with every excuse I could think of against Trump, I logically thought about the intensity of both outcomes.

I weighed my options and realized that, although I value the virtuousness that comes with morality and hold my potential leaders to a fairly high standard in this respect, morality involves both intentions and consequences.

The problem with having pure intentions and riding a moral high horse — as a natural response to embracing those intentions — is that those pure intentions can actually produce terrible consequences.

Trump backlash

In retrospect, the main reason I decided to accept the position of UH Chapter coordinator of Students for Trump was precisely because of what I saw was going on around me.

I saw freedom of speech on college campuses slowly becoming obsolete. I saw people being bullied by their friends at school and their professors all because of who they were voting for.

This is hard to admit, but I accepted the position to become president of this club in order to make a difference.

I wanted other Republican students on campus to be able to express their voices and opinions just as their fellow peers did with such confidence.  I also wanted them to feel like they belonged somewhere. A safe space, so to speak, because I knew exactly what they were going through and did not want them to go through it alone.

Although I accepted the position of president, I was still in the early stages of my personal support for Trump. I still felt I had to conform to what the status quo deemed acceptable and “morally correct.”

I was quickly shamed for being associated with Trump and attempting to gain support through social media.

I never had a prejudice bone in my body, but when I claimed to be associated with Trump, I was automatically classified as a racist, anti-Semitic and sexist lunatic. I found these insults sort of humorous because of the fact that I am female, Jewish, Israeli-American and have gay relatives.

I remember I was even called a disgusting human being two or three times when I came out as a Trump supporter. The people did not even know my name, but they sure knew I was disgusting.

That insult wasn’t as funny. I had professors threaten me and tell me that my intentions were bad.

People of all ages constantly wanted to debate me after finding out my political views. Talking about it now, it truly sounds ridiculous that I had to hide my beliefs. I did not want others to suffer in silence and alone the way I did.

Misunderstood viewpoint

Coincidentally, Trump is always called these same names. If you look up the facts that these people claim are true, you find out that Trump is the complete opposite of a bigot and racist.

He openly supports the LGBTQ community, he is all for minority programs that promote equal rights, he loves the state of Israel and he has hired more women than men to work for his company and Trump Tower.

I guess I started seeing a correlation between the way I was being treated and the way that both Republicans, in general, and Trump, himself, have been treated in recent years. The entire system is to blame for this.

The government in power controls all of the United States’s major information outlets, so the reason for this deep and hate-fueled bias is self-explanatory.

So, one day, I finally decided that if I was going to commit to this position, I was going to fully commit. I finally figured that if something was going to change, it could only be done by doing something about it.

Ever since then, I have successfully recruited a full board of students with about 25 members in total, and we are still growing.

We all have such controversial opinions, but we are supporting the same presidential candidate. We also come from such different backgrounds. Some of us are former Democrats, libertarians, conservatives — and some are even voting for the first time.

A diverse group

Contrary to popular assumptions, the majority of the group is not white. Our Students for Trump group is made up of many different ethnicities. You will find Asian, Hispanic, Arab, African American, and Indian students, and we all share one common bond.

We all love this country and want to see America reach her fullest potential. Additionally, we share similar experiences with other students and professors that have given us such a hard time for expressing our opinions in the past.

We all have to live with the stares and anxiety we get when we are gathered together watching a presidential debate in our MAGA hats, but it’s OK. Because we now know that we are not alone — we have each other to lean on.

Moreover, the connections I have made with these people these past few months are indescribable. It is honestly such a strange connection, one that I have never really experienced within a group of friends or group of people in general.

It is certainly frustrating at times because all of our views are so mixed. I feel like it is insane that we are all supporting the same candidate when we have such contradicting beliefs.

It has been a long journey, but we have not given up. We all share that hopeful spirit. We share the same passion for this country and its people, but, ultimately, we all share the same dream:  To make America great again.

As corny as it sounds, it’s a damn beautiful feeling.

The members of the Students for Trump group at UH all support him for different and various reasons.

Some have supported him from the beginning while others, such as myself, have realized that the alternative is far worse. When you face the facts instead of spewing out the garbage you hear from the blatantly biased media, who — by the way — are reporting far more negatively on Trump coverage, you actually start to realize you like some of his policies.

Personally, it terrorizes me to think about what a Hillary Clinton presidency would do to this country.

Too important to risk

As I stated earlier, Trump wasn’t even my first choice. My No. 1 choice for president was Marco Rubio. I agreed with him on almost all the issues, and Trump was probably my last choice at the time besides Rand Paul.

Objectively speaking, the 2016 elections will either signify an end or will make way for a new beginning. This election will determine whether U.S. democracy stays or goes. That’s a terrifying thought, right?

If you aren’t scared, you should be.

To me, this election is not only significant in determining the path that the United States will take. It is arguably one of the most important in U.S. history.

I turn to you, fellow millennials, and ask that you remain honest and open-minded.

Why not go against the status quo for a change? It is the only burden that is hindering the American people from seeing the clarity in our decisions.

Unfortunately, we the people have been put in such a tight position. Now this beacon is our only hope, yet everyone chooses to ignore it because that is what they were told to do.

For once, why not give the underdog a chance to Make America Great Again?

This is just a chance to spread a little knowledge on a different perspective — a perspective that you don’t hear every day — from my own philosophy on this crazy election cycle.

This is just my way of being honest in order to provoke those who continue living in fear of coming out with their own opinions and beliefs on Donald Trump.

I believe it is their right to express their opinions, even if they differ with the majority, and I am hoping people can read my story and think twice about things going on, or even develop the courage and confidence to express their own views.

After all, America needs our ideas to be successful.  Every single citizen’s voice matters, especially in this election. So please, speak up people. It’s your country that’s at stake.

Karen Ben-Moyal is a political science senior and the president of Students for Trump. She can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com

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“Guest Column: Why I support Trump and you should, too” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar