Here’s What President Obama Told His Daughters The Morning After Donald Trump Won The President Election

The United States was ready to explode on Wednesday morning of last week, with Donald Trump’s camp feeling the validated after running the most unorthodox political campaign in history and Clinton supporters utterly devastated by the results.

It wouldn’t be at all fair to say that the country has chilled out over the last week because we’ve seen an endless string of protests against Donald Trump’s election, we’ve seen violence from supporters on both sides of the spectrum. Hillary Clinton might’ve won the popular vote, but the Electoral College and millions of Americans voted for change and named Donald Trump President Elect.

On the morning after Donald Trump won the election President Obama sat down with his two teenage daughters and spoke to them about what this all means for America, and even if you hate Obama with every fiber of your being you cannot deny the sensibility of his fatherly advice via The New Yorker:

“‘Societies and cultures are really complicated … This is not mathematics; this is biology and chemistry. These are living organisms, and it’s messy. And your job as a citizen and as a decent human being is to constantly affirm and lift up and fight for treating people with kindness and respect and understanding.

“‘And you should anticipate that at any given moment there’s going to be flare-ups of bigotry that you may have to confront, or may be inside you and you have to vanquish. And it doesn’t stop … You don’t get into a fetal position about it. You don’t start worrying about apocalypse. You say, O.K., where are the places where I can push to keep it moving forward.'”

Trump won the election (in part) because his voters came out in big numbers to be the change they wanted to see in America. Trump voters mobilized to win an election and shift the narrative of our great nation. And whether or not you agree with Donald Trump’s xenophobic policies as a candidate you have to acknowledge that the only way to see any sort of change in America is by getting yourself involved in the process. The world isn’t going to change itself, that’s on every individual do live up to his and her civic duty. This was President Obama’s advice to his daughters, be the change you want to see in the world.

You can read David Remnick’s full New Yorker profile on President Obama by following that link!

[h/t BusinessInsider]