I know I'm taking a HUGE risk in posting this fic, but it needs to be done in my opinion, especially now.
"But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth."
Luke 11:17
"YAY! IT'S FINALLY OVER!" Mikey threw his arms up in the air as he cheered in front of the T.V. It was Wednesday morning, and the Turtles were in the living room watching the election results.
"Ugh, finally," Raph groaned as he leaned further back into the sofa.
"I'll say," Donnie yawned. "This has certainly been one intense election."
"Maybe all this division that's been going on in our country will finally stop," Leo stretched out the kink in his neck.
The lair was filled with red, white, and blue balloons and banners that read "Election 2016". Everyone expected the results to appear much earlier last night, and they would celebrate the event with a party afterwards. However, it ended up being so late that the Turtles went to bed before they could see the final results.
But that didn't stop Mikey from presuming the party the very next morning. He put on his "Make America Great Again" hat and pinned his "H" buttons onto his belt.
"Honestly, Mikey," Raph grumbled, "you can't root for both candidates. You have to choose a side. That's the whole point of this election. So you either have to ditch the hat or the buttons."
"You kidding?" Mikey looked back at Raph with a grin. "Why wear only one thing when you can wear both? I really like this hat; the words are…inspiring. And I'm totally digging these 'H' buttons. They say it stands for 'Hillary', but personally I prefer…'Hope'. And see? The arrow means to keep moving forward, no matter what."
Mikey ran to the refrigerator and took Ice Cream Kitty from out of the freezer. "Kitty, the election is over! We finally have our 45th President, baby!" He then sprinkled red, white, and blue jimmies onto his beloved pet.
"Well, technically, Mikey," Donnie said, "we won't have a new President until January 20th. Right now, he's only the President-elect."
"Who cares?!" Mikey exclaimed. "The election is finally over! Now how about we celebrate with a good old patriot cake?" He went back to the fridge and pulled out a large cake. An American flag was decorated on it. It actually looked…rather delicious.
"Is that," Leo looked at the cake suspiciously, "a real cake?"
"And is that real frosting?" Raph dipped his finger in the cake and licked it. His eyes went as wide as buttons. "Holy cow, it is real frosting! Mikey, what gives, man?"
Mikey merely shrugged. "I know it's not the usual algae, but I thought that since this is a very historical event, I might as well do something special and change the recipe. See, the cake is divided into three parts: blue is blueberry, red is strawberry, and white is vanilla. So it's not just one flavor: it's three!"
Splinter cut out a piece and took a bite. "Mmmm," he closed eyes, savoring the sweet taste. "Michelangelo, I must say, you have done an excellent job with this patriot dessert."
Hearing that come from their Sensei encouraged the others to immediately dig in. Before the whole cake could be consumed, Mikey quickly grabbed it off the table and put it back into the fridge. "Gotta save some for April and Casey," he explained.
Later that night, after carefully wrapping his culinary masterpiece in tin foil, Mikey went to the surface. He knew that the streets would be crowded on the night after the election. He figured that people who supported Trump were probably throwing celebration parties and maybe even parades. So he was being extra "ninja-y", if that was even a word, and carefully and quietly jumped from one rooftop to another.
He smiled brightly to himself as he got closer to his destination. He just couldn't wait for his friends to try the cake.
Just then, he heard some screaming and angry shouting down in the streets. Curious, he went to investigate…
"Um, guys?" Donnie looked at the T.V. with concern. "Are you seeing this?"
Raph and Leo joined their genius brother on the couch and watched the news that was being unfolded before them.
Hundreds, maybe even thousands of Clinton supporters and anti-Trump protestors were marching through the streets of New York with angry picket signs and shouting all sorts of profanities. Some people were even arrested for disorderly conduct. Rocks were thrown, windows were broken and/or vandalized with graffiti, and flags were even burned.
"Can you believe this?" Leo whispered, shocked at what he was seeing.
"Well, what did you expect?" Raph mumbled, his eyes not leaving the screen. "The whole election pretty much divided the country in half. These people really wanted Clinton to win and keep Trump out of office. Guess they can't admit defeat."
The color on Leo's face drained as he suddenly remembered something very important.
"Oh, no…Mikey!"
The streets of New York looked like WWIII to Mikey.
A lot of stuff had been knocked down, broken, and set on fire. Anti-Trump protestors were shouting angrily at Trump supporters, who were just as angry and yelling back at them.
"NOT MY PRESIDENT!"
"TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT!"
"F*** DONALD TRUMP!"
"CLINTON FOR PRISON!"
"DUMP TRUMP!"
"LOCK HER UP!"
One Trump supporter shoved a protestor, which quickly sparked a fire as people began pushing each other and even throwing punches. Mikey had to do something quick.
"HEY! HEY, STOP!" Before he knew it, he was running into the crowded streets and tried to get in between the two opposing groups. "STOP FIGHTING! MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR!"
The crowd quieted down a little and looked at the giant talking turtle in shock. Some were whispering to each other, others were taking pictures of him with their phones.
"I mean, come on, people!" Mikey continued to speak to both groups. "We're all Americans here! We live in the same country! Can't we all just get along?!"
It was quiet for a moment, before a protestor spoke out of the crowd. "Hey, isn't that guy wearing a Trump hat?"
Mikey pointed to the hat on his head. "What, this? Well, yeah, but…"
"Hey, you're wearing Clinton buttons, too!" A supporter pointed at his decorated belt. "So what are you, a Trump supporter or a Clinton supporter?"
"Um," Mikey gulped nervously and started to twiddle his fingers. "Both, I guess?"
"No way, man!" a young man wearing a Trump shirt stepped forward. "You can't support both! You have to choose either Trump or Clinton! Or neither!"
The crowd agreed in unison.
"Then, uh…neither?" Mikey shrugged his shoulders.
"So you're an independent, then?" a young woman in a Hillary shirt asked.
"…I guess so."
"THEN GET THE F*** OUT OF OUR WAY!" A protestor roughly pushed Mikey aside, causing him to drop the cake. "WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PROTEST HERE! DON'T INTERRUPT! F*** DONALD TRUMP!"
"TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT!"
The crowd immediately went back to war with each other, and in the process, the beautiful cake that Mikey had worked so hard on had been ruined and trampled on.
Tears burned Mikey's eyes. He stared at what was left of his delicious creation on the ground, and then back up at the crowd fighting around him. Tonight was supposed to be a good night. How did things go so wrong so fast?
"MIKEY!"
Mikey turned to see his brothers standing in an alley, motioning for him to come over. Mikey quickly left the crowd and joined his brothers with a disheartened expression.
"You okay, little brother?" Raph gently placed a hand on Mikey's shoulder.
"They smashed my cake," Mikey whispered, looking down at the concrete.
"That's okay," Donnie tried to cheer him up with a gap toothed smile. "You can always bake another one for April and Casey."
Mikey turned his head back at the fighting crowd and sighed dejectedly. "I really don't see a point anymore, D."
The next morning, Mikey was lying on the couch with the Trump hat and Clinton buttons scattered on the floor. He looked at the T.V. sadly as more and more protests grew nationwide. There were reports of houses being vandalized, protestors were ganging up on and beating up supporters who were just passing by, and even kids who wore Trump shirts to school were being bullied.
Trump supporters were being just as nasty as the protestors. A lot of them were saying racist remarks and calling Hillary Clinton and her supporters horrible names. Some extreme supporters were also vandalizing property with graffiti and beating up whoever voted for Hillary. If anything, they were encouraging the riots instead of trying to stop them.
Why were so many people angry and acting so violently? When did America become the Danger Zone instead of the Land of the Free?
Mikey felt someone sit on the couch next to him and a warm, gentle hand caress his green head.
"Your brothers told me of what happened last night," Splinter softly said. "I am so sorry, Michelangelo. It saddens me greatly that you had to witness such preposterous and unnecessary violence."
Mikey looked up at his father with wet, red eyes. "Those people," he whispered, "there was nothing but hate in their eyes. I saw it."
Splinter solemnly nodded and looked back at the T.V. "Politics is a very complicated thing, my son. People feel very strongly about their personal beliefs and moral convictions. Every day, they debate and argue about how this country should be led and who should be the one to lead it. And sadly, most people take it to the extreme, as you have seen last night."
The freckled turtle looked back down at his stuff on the floor. "You know, in this country, you have to be either red for Republicans, blue for Democrats, or just plain white for independents." He sat up and picked up his hat and buttons. "You can't be all. You have to pick a side. But why? Why can't we be red, white, AND blue? Why can't we be unified and find common ground? You said it, yourself, Sensei: it's our differences that make our nation stronger."
"My son," Splinter rubbed his son's shell in comfort, "I'm afraid that that kind of unity can never be accomplished, no matter how hard we may wish for it. People will always disagree on some things, and it is those disagreements that tear us apart and prevent world peace from ever coming to fruition."
Mikey sighed and looked back at the news. More reports of violence and riots.
"Well, I may not know much about politics," he said as he put on his hat and buttons once again. "But I do know one thing: I'm going to continue to support my country and our new President. And I'll do my best to protect America from any threat, whether it be the Shredder, the Kraang, or foreign countries that want to do us harm. 'Cause that's my duty as a free-born American, right?" He looked at his Sensei with a smirk.
Splinter smiled proudly at his son. "Yes, Michelangelo. It is."
To all Trump supporters, congratulations on your victory. You have all worked very hard to accomplish this, and this surprising election will certainly make history. However, PLEASE don't rub it in the Democrats' faces, because they're already devastated enough. Furthermore, DON'T continue to bully Clinton supporters.
To all Clinton supporters, I'm sorry that your victory fell short. You all worked so hard as well, yet the outcome turned out much different than you anticipated. This election was a devastating blow to you all, but you'll make it back on your feet. However, DON'T resort to violence and riots, and DON'T take your anger out on the Trump supporters.
To all Americans, please put aside your petty differences and try to join together in unity. Whatever happens after this election, we will face together as one, if you'll allow it. 'Cause if we continue to be a divided country, we'll never succeed and our future is doomed. It's all in God's hands now.
God bless you and God bless America.
And please DON'T ask who I voted for, because it really doesn't matter.