Goshen freshman Jacob Karaglanis voted for the Republican candidate and now President-elect Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

He then participated in a “riot turned protest” at Pearce-Ford Tower Wednesday to show how ridiculous and unproductive the protest really was, he said.

“I didn’t like either of the candidates personally,” he said. ‘I was originally a supporter of John Kasich, and I’m a Republican voter, so I wanted to back my party more than anything, and I didn’t trust Hillary very much.”

Karaglanis added that he supports second amendment rights, and is pro-gun, not pro-gun control. Also, he is a pro-life supporter.

“Looking at it as an undecided voter, I wouldn’t have voted for either of them, but him being pro-life really pushed me in that direction,” Karaglanis said.

Protesting can be effective, but once it becomes angry, it becomes unproductive, he added.

“It is easy to say it from my perspective because my candidate won, but I think that all the protesting has been fueled by anger and hate,” Karaglanis said.

While it was not originally his idea, Karaglanis did participate in the protest.

“I wore a speedo and an American flag to one of the protests,” Karaglanis said. “That was my fun in that.”

The idea for the costume came from a friend who swam with him in high school. Karaglanis had his swimming speedo in his dorm room, which was close to the protests location in front of PFT. Karaglanis grabbed his flag and his suit and proceeded to head back into the crowd.

“To me, it was the perfect opportunity to show people how ridiculous this is, by being ridiculous,” Karaglanis said.

Karaglanis added while he made light of the situation, he believes both parties are justified in how they feel.

“I realize that Trump is very inappropriate and immature, and he also didn’t win the popular vote,” Karaglanis added. “That is something that could easily fuel anger, so they definitely have a right to be angry and a right to protest.”

But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t support the U.S., Karaglanis added.

“They should get behind America and get behind what happened, because it’s over,” Karaglanis said. “Everyone has a right to be angry, but the anger should be in a mature and productive way.”

Karaglanis wishes everyone would support the president-elect and hope he does well now that the election is over. He doesn’t think people should show hatred toward people who voted differently.

“I personally have seen a lot of hatred during the protests from both sides,” he said.

Karaglanis reiterated being a Trump supporter doesn’t mean you should oppose people who voted from Hilary, he said.

“I want to see more unity,” Karaglanis said. “At the end of the day, I live next to the people that were hateful to me, and people that were hateful to Trump and anti-Trump supporters live next to me.”

“We are all Americans. We are all neighbors. There is no reason to be filled with hatred. No is no point in dividing ourselves.”

Reporter Kylie Carlson can be reached at 270-745-6011 and [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @kentuckylie.