Love him or hate him, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has dominated the political conversation and is continuing to do so. From major news channels, to Comedy Central, to YouTube, it seems that everyone is always talking about Trump in some fashion.

Now candidates are even changing their campaign. Focusing it around Trump. For example, Ted Cruz is now urging Republicans who do not like Trump to join forces with him instead so Trump does not become the candidate.

On the other side of the aisle, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are using Trump as motivation to get more Democrats out to vote. Even here at Shippensburg University, during my political science course, Trump seems to dominate the lecture material.

With all this publicity comes a lot of controversy. This has been seen just recently in Chicago, where Trump canceled a rally because of possible violence. Protestors came to the rally and violence erupted between Trump supporters and Trump protestors. On that night, every news station was airing footage as well as interviews from supporters, protestors and other presidential candidates.

Both the other Republican candidates and the Democratic candidates made comments saying that this is a result of Trump’s speeches, which they think encourage violent behavior. Taking a step back from all the political experts who look at this like a game, what does this mean and what is it showing America?

While the argument that Trump inadvertently encourages violence is the most common, I think there is something else going on, which political pundits seem to pass over. Millions of people still support Trump even though what he says offends some groups of people and his supporters are not just “white rich men,” which is what Trump’s opposition likes to make it out to be.

People are angry at the political status quo and to them, Trump is a game changer. This is even shown if you add up the supporters of Trump, Cruz and Sanders, the No. 1 reason these candidates are supported is because they are considered outsiders. In other words, they will change the system. Although these men are different ideologically, the fact that people are fed up with the system shows.

I think we are witnessing a political revolution. People are angry with political correctness and the current system, where politicians’ No. 1 skill is public speaking. The Trump movement is not one of bigotry or racism, but rather one of change from the political agenda that has been driving our nation. People do not want to have to worry about offending everyone’s delicate feelings, but they want to speak their mind. People are tired of career politicians and Trump has taken advantage of this anger. I am not a Trump supporter, but I do believe we should be reading into this situation with open eyes, not just putting these people and their beliefs down. The direction of this country is going to change vastly in upcoming years.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and are not representative of The Slate or its staff as a whole.

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