It’s a long bus ride from PA to anywhere, really. You better pray you have headphones or else you’ll have to endure conversations with other humans. 

Gross, I know. 

It was Tuesday afternoon on the way to Pat’s Peak for ski practice when a guy on the bus mentioned my favorite person: President Donald Trump. More specifically, the person wanted to talk about his impeachment, which is likely to end today when Senate Republicans will acquit the president of any wrong-doing. 

I identify as a Democrat, a liberal, and a socialist—if the economy would allow it. And, no surprise, I do not believe Donald Trump is fit to be president. However, I do not believe the House of Representatives had enough evidence to impeach the man. This is hard for me to write. I feel like a turncoat, betraying my own party. 

This brings us to the topics at hand: party loyalty and partisanship. 

The aforementioned guy said that he identified mostly with the Republican party and their values, and if he could’ve voted in the 2016 election, he would have voted for then-candidate Donald Trump. 

The conversation continued, covering different divisive political topics. While we did not agree on a lot of things, one thing we agreed on was that each party is extremely biased against the other. And this has caused a lot of tension in the nation. Democrats become defensive, expecting to be insulted, called “snowflakes.” Republicans prepare for long-winded bloviant rants and to be called “white-supremicists.” 

Last week, on a bus, I sat down and had one of the most respectful conversations I’ve ever had with a Republican. And the conversation didn’t change either of our minds, we did agree that everyone needs to chill out. 

For once, I was grateful that I didn’t have headphones.