Beyond all odds, predictions, pundits and polls, President-elect Donald Trump has defeated Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president of the United States. Over a week has passed, yet it has still to sink in. With the right wing parading in their success and the left wallowing in their pain, a divided nation looks toward 2017 with either hope or resignation, but perhaps most of all, uncertainty.

The next four months are painfully unpredictable, let alone the next four years. How President Barack Obama prepares for this new presidency is about as compelling as how Trump will behave once he assumes it. In the meantime, U.S. citizens ought to reserve judgment and remain prudent, rather than outrage and balk at the results of a fair and finished election.

Most reactions of those within our immediate area and other progressive parts of the country have been quite bizarre. All across the U.S., particularly in cities such as New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, protestors have flooded the streets with signs such as “Not My President,” suggesting a sense of disbelief and denial at Trump’s victory.

If people are adamant in objecting, they should do so to principles and policies — not elections. Considering Trump is yet to have any legislated policies, there is nothing to protest. There has even been a noticeable demand by Trump’s detractors to discard the electoral college completely; I highly doubt such immediacy would exist if Clinton emerged victorious instead.

To be clear, I stand with most students insofar as their frustration over the election. I have been saying for the past year that Trump is dangerously unqualified and unintelligent. Nevertheless, I accept and understand the result especially when I reflect on the nonsense that both the media and college campuses have been pushing for the past year.

Trump is not the president-elect because everyone who voted for him is a white, racist and xenophobic bigot, but rather they are sick and tired of the threat of radical Islamic terrorism being ignored, billions of dollars in taxpayer money being thrown at theocratic nations like Iran and even seemingly trivial matters such as certain Halloween costumes being socially impermissible. In this way, it is Trump’s detractors who are most responsible for enabling his rise to power.

Democrats seem to be latching onto every reason for Clinton losing except the most obvious one: She was a horrible candidate. This is someone who denounced wealth inequality while collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches, and who unlawfully used a private server to lose thousands of classified emails and then lie about it. The way many on the left have reacted in the past week is the same behavior that caused them to lose the election.

While this election cycle was surely regarded as being the end of the Republicans, they will now exercise control over the Oval Office, House of Representatives, the Senate and whoever fills the spot of the late Justice Antonin Scalia who served on the Supreme Court. For better or for worse, the next two years in the District of Columbia will host a Republican reign capable of torching the entirety of Obama’s legacy.

Since the negative potential of a Trump presidency is clear, let’s turn to some positive take backs. Although Trump was infamously impetuous during the course of his campaign, we have seen over the last 10 days a much more reserved Trump who seems to be more tactful, reflective and dare I say — presidential. Nobody thought he was going to win, quite possibly even Trump himself. It is within the realm of possibility that winning truly had a dampening effect on him and his eccentricity. Obama even voiced optimism regarding his meeting with Trump last Wednesday and predicted a likely smooth transition into 2017 during his first post-election press conference on Monday.

Trump was far from the ideal candidate. But with the ballots counted and Trump’s position solidified, there is little to do but wait and see how the rest unfolds. Will Trump confirm our suspicions and act against all tenets of democracy and freedom, or surprise us with a laudable demonstration of leadership and efficacy? Perhaps he will prove to be feckless and forgettable. No matter what the case, we ought to be prepared for all scenarios and act accordingly when they arise. This tumultuous election cycle undeniably ended with an unprecedented result, but it is how we face this result that will either reiterate or redefine our identity as U.S. citizens to ourselves, the rest of the world and posterity.

Brian Deinstadt is a junior double-majoring in political science and English.