The hardest part of my election night was sitting at the foot of my mother’s bed, staring through her glossy, tear-burdened eyes and holding her tight, telling her everything was going to be OK.

She used to do the same for me as a child when I was afraid of monsters being elected president too.

My social media pages now resemble a salty ice cream sundae made out of tears, confusion, and anguish. We are officially in a Batman script where the Joker runs for president, and he freaking wins. Only in this script, there is no Batman here to save our country, because only we can.

You don’t need to venture very far to learn about how big of an idiot our President-Elect is. For Trump’s first 100 days in office, NPR reported that he wants to use his “End Illegal Immigration Act” to fund a wall that will span across our southern border with Mexico, which Mexico will apparently fully reimburse us for. He also plans to cancel every executive action, memorandum, and order issued by President Obama that he deems “unconstitutional”, which could mean anything knowing this lunatic. And the cherry on top is he plans to lift the roadblocks that prevent the keystone pipeline from being construction, which would transfer 830,000 barrels of oil each day.

With global warming threatening our planet more than ever, we cannot afford to let a president who pretends it doesn’t exist steer us toward irreversible conditions, and in a time where minorities and people from the LGBT community fight for the right to have the same opportunities as their fellow American, we cannot let our scared, delusional leader set their progress back to where they started.

We can use our votes and our actions to get through these difficult times together. In two years, the midterm elections will play a big part in how we can make a difference in our government, as all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and 33 out of 100 seats in the Senate are all up for reelection. If you are someone like myself who was upset by the results of this past election, you should do your part in voting for the more progressive candidates who have our best interests in mind. And don’t just settle for midterms either, pay attention to your local government and vote on the issues that directly affect you and your neighbors as well.

My 2-year-old niece, who is Latina, is now going to grow up in the Trump era. I want to do everything I can to make sure she knows that she will matter, despite what Donald Trump has ever said, and will say about women and minorities. To do that we will need everyone on board, because this is our reality now.