Just one week after the midterm elections had concluded, former President Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the White House for a third time, but some Highline students already know if they decide to vote in 2024 it will be for anyone but him.

“I wasn’t surprised by that. He’s sort of been indicating that that’s what he was going to do all along,” said Charlene Wilson, a returning student at Highline who already has a Bachelor’s degree, referring to Trump’s announcement.

Wilson said, “I really hope he doesn’t win re-election. I feel like he’s generally not good for the country…I mostly voted Republican until 2016, but I could not vote for him. There was just no way on those issues.”

Angeline Cassatt, a student in Highline’s High School Success program, said, “I don’t think it’s going to go well because they’re still going to do the investigation,” referring to the federal law enforcement raid on Mar-a-Lago for classified documents over the summer.

When asked her thoughts on why Trump would be running again, Cassatt answered, “Money. Fame…He wants more fame. He wants to rule…He wants everything. He’s greedy in that way.”

For other students, Trump’s third run was not so much a cause of alarm but more a matter of fairness. “Give someone else a chance at least,” said Jordyn Ceplina, a veteran who served in the U.S. Navy on the USS America in San Diego and is studying for her Bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity. “I already know how Trump did things the first time,” Ceplina said.

Others expressed doubts on whether Trump could run or be legally elected for any political office.

David Webber, an Army veteran based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and studying for a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education, cited “Section 3 of the 14th amendment [which] prohibits public office holders who have taken an oath to support the U.S. Constitution and then engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or who give aid or comfort to enemies against the United States from serving in public office.”

“I don’t think it’s really possible for him to even run again or be elected again, because it directly conflicts with…what the Constitution says,” said Webber. “I genuinely hope he doesn’t get too far,” he said.

The most obvious next viable option for the Republican nomination after Trump would be his vice president, Mike Pence. However, like most in his party, Highline students showed little support in supporting his potential presidential candidacy.

“I don’t want Mike Pence either,” Ceplina said, noting his staunch conservative views on social issues.

Webber added, “I’ll hand it to Pence…He was really the one that was kind of preventing Trump from declaring or officially declaring the election as stolen so I’ll give that to him.”

Wilson said, “I mean I liked Mike Pence more than I liked Donald Trump, but…that’s not a big thing.” She noted that vice presidents generally do not have a lot of power in their roles. This in addition to Pence’s less than charismatic personality could also be a reason why many in his party do not view him as a potential winner.

Without question, one of the biggest winners out of the midterms and a rapidly rising star within the Republican Party is current Governor of Florida, Ron Desantis. Among Highine students, most only had name-recognition of him.

“Feel like I’ve heard of him before,” said Tan Nguyen, a second-year student in the electrical engineering program. Like many students, Nguyen could only speak about Desantis when some of his policies while in office were noted.

“I keep reading up on the negatives around him. And personally, I dislike him a lot,” Webber said.

Some said they knew about Desantis because of his controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill he signed into Flordia state law this past spring.

Cassatt said she was aware of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill because “I’m so focused on that community because I’m part of the community.”

“Warren”, an alias for a Highline student and a U.S. Navy veteran, spoke broadly about the right-wing movement supporting Desantis in Florida.

“Florida is going to become a regional power for Republicans…Ron DeSantis has a foothold in one of the most politically unstable states in the country…Through just complete institutional manipulation [he] has basically been [at] the forefront of the white supremacist rise…at least political rise in the country. [Republicans] have the largest political gain [and] power in Texas and Florida and DeSantis is spearheading that,” Warren said.

Despite this, if Desantis were to win in the Republican Party primary, Warren said he could foresee Desantis winning in the general election overall because, “He’ll cheat. He’ll win. He’s got corporate backers. He’ll do the things the corporate, powerful, business people like that’ll keep them paid…DeSantis is the most prolific who will continue to get handed free media press the entire time. The base is not unfamiliar with political violence. The voting base in Florida is not unfamiliar with vote tampering with things coming down to maybe 50 to 100 votes. So I don’t rule that out as a possibility. It would definitely be the most lucrative for the powers that be.”

However, when asked to consider any other options from the Republican Party, no students interviewed could propose any presidential candidates.

“It’s just interesting to see people grasp and to find new leadership, because…Trump’s presidency really shattered the entire GOP,” Webber said.

For some, the Republican Party has become impossible to support. Even for former supporters, like Wilson, who thought the party has “really gone in a bad direction.”

“Even if on a personal level we agree on some things, I don’t like the way they talk about people. I don’t like the way that they treat people that don’t have power and that’s become a bigger issue to me in the last few years than it was before that. I guess just being more aware of power and those that don’t have it is an issue in this country,” said Wilson.

Noting the less-than-spectacular performance of Republicans in the midterms and the non-existent “Red Wave” Warren said, “You’re not gonna get anywhere with these goddamn dinosaurs.”

As an independent, his advice for Republicans: “Don’t run the guys who are the reason you lost in the first place?…It’s just power hungry people…They’re like ‘oh, I’m gonna run for president again’ but that’s not gonna work. It’s not gonna do it. It didn’t work the last time.”

Warren continued saying he did not think “all Republicans are bad people,” but that their efforts to harm minorities and women is problematic. “It means those things aren’t a deal breaker for you. It means that oppression is not a deal breaker for you. And that just is for me,” he said.

Some students believe that if Republicans were serious in their efforts to win Black votes was to act on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s idea after the raid on Mar-a-Lago: Abolish the FBI.

“If the Republicans would have abolished the FBI, they would have done more for the Black community than ever,” Warren said.

The likelihood of another match up between Trump and President Joe Biden in 2024 grew on Monday when the White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain confirmed the president would be deciding with his family after the holiday season.

Overall, Highline students favor Biden again over Trump, but are less than enthusiastic for his possible second term.

Wilson said, “I’m not in love with Biden. But it’s sort of like, if those are my options I would vote for Biden.”

Some students commented on Biden’s poor performance. “The country hasn’t collapsed, but it could be run better by anyone else really,” Nguyen said. When asked if Trump should run against Biden, Nguyen said, “That’s a hard thing to say because I don’t know what either have accomplished in the past couple of years.”

Webber said, “I personally don’t think he should run again. Because I mean…it’s been kind of disappointing, to say the least.”

Ceplina noted Biden’s age as a reason not to seek another term saying, “The age thing is…pushing. It’s not a good idea.”

When Biden originally campaigned, he said he wanted to be a one-term, transition president for the next generation of politicians. So it was not entirely surprising when he chose Vice President Kamala Harris, a woman-of-color and a Senator from one of the bluest states in the country, California.

“I really like her. From what I’ve heard, she’s a really good Vice President from what I’ve read on Twitter,” Cassatt said.

“I would vote for her. She definitely has a lot of ideas that I think are interesting and I’m all in favor of having a woman in the White House finally. Like, can we please have that?” Wilson said.

Webber noted that critiques of her may possibly be “really rooted in misogyny.” In spite of this, he was still skeptical about Harris.

“As far as handing the reins to Kamala…I don’t know about that…I don’t exactly know how to put it…I don’t know enough about…a lot of her policies…but I know that my partner personally doesn’t like her that much…I think they should hand the reins over to somebody else,” Webber said.

Others expressed a more substantive criticism of Harris. Ceplina cited her lack of experience and qualifications, even if she personally wanted to see a woman in the Oval Office.

At the thought of Harris being elected President, Warren described this possibility as “terrifying” and “would probably be one of the scariest outcomes.”

Although Warren considers Desantis as a “Nazi,” he still consider Harris as “one of the worst case scenarios.” 

“DeSantis…despite his radical right wingism and his beliefs…he’s not institutional. He just leverages the institution to get his pseudo-populist ideology kind of propagated. Kamala Harris is the machine more or less,” Warren said.

He noted her connections and ability to speak to both elites and working class people, but in the end would thwart progressive goals and policies.

While the potential bench of Republican candidates Highline students could think of was short, the listed names mentioned for Democrats was not much longer.

“I’ll be honest, I know even less about the Democratic side than I do about the Republicans,” Nguyen said.

Wilson said she personally liked some of the progressive politicians in Congress but thought their proposed progressives policies were “too much for me. So given my preference, I’d want someone that’s more moderate. I don’t know who that would be.”

Ceplina mentioned Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg as her favored candidate for 2024.

“For me, he sounded well-rounded…He’s a veteran, he is out, he has kids…He has experience…If he’s running [then] definitely I would go for him,” Ceplina said.

Due to his outspoken stance calling out the events on Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C., Webber said he would support Tim Ryan for president.

“Tim Ryan all the way. Pro-choice, pro-immigration…and he absolutely hates any Republican that supported Trump, so win-win. Tim Ryan all the way,” he said.

Others were less supportive of this idea. 

“Tim Ryan is the guy somehow even less interesting than Hillary Clinton,” Warren said.

As an independent, his preferred candidate since 2016 has been Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont, but has since felt politics in America to be one big joke. He commented that the country has been reminding him of the Weimar Republic in Germany. “Bernie was my original vote and [it] kills me when Republicans talk about Democrats stealing elections because they do. [Democrats] just don’t steal them from [Republicans],” Warren said.

“I really don’t know if the pendulum is gonna swing the other way. The Democrats are really good at holding [the] status quo…Nothing rolls out the red carpet for fascism quite like liberals,” Warren said. 

“What one white supremacist does with a gun or a fist, a liberal does to swarms and whole communities with a pen. So we have things like the continued travel ban. There’s still a travel ban. That has not gone away. And under Biden we’ve lost abortion rights, and same-sex marriage rights is under threat with no hint of defense,” he said.

When considering their preferred candidate qualities, students mentioned humble conditions. 

“Just valuing life. A feeling that the person values life. Valued people,” Wilson said. “I would love to see less polarization, for sure.”

Ceplina shared she simply wants politicians to not break their campaign promises and commitments once in office, someone who unites people and does not divide them, and younger candidates. “Just because they’re very old, does not mean experience,” she said.

Several people interviewed said they saw no ties connecting politics to their everyday lives.

Nguyen said, “Since I don’t engage a lot in politics, I don’t really think of any political issues that directly influence me, besides minimum wage.”

When referring to political elections in the country, Wilson said it makes people think “which one of these people do I hate less? Which is unfortunate.”

Others search to find the hilarious in the tragedy of it all. “I’ve always found it therapeutic to ridicule the ridiculous…I find the ridiculousness of it all quite funny,” Warren said.

“It’s the haves versus have-nots…is the only true political dichotomy that…doesn’t have to be forced, manufactured, or propagandized into us. There’s a very clear class delineation,” Warren said. “It comes down to the people who have control, power, resources, and the people who have-not…So when the haves fight amongst each other [openly via our elections], I just kind of [laugh] at it.”

Hopefully, during this next election cycle of political theater, we can all find ways to come together and find the hilarious moments within the tsunami of angst and division.