The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump has been a tumultuous one, with the most recent scandal–if you can even call it that–of it all is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tearing up the State of the Union address Tuesday night. 

The reactions varied from each party, naturally. Supporters say it was an incredible clapback, some even saying that Pelosi is a feminist icon for it. But here’s the thing: she’s not feminist or iconic for ripping it up, but rather annoyingly performative. This is not what the American people are looking for when we say we want action.

It’s a meaningless clapback. 

Politicians have the nerve to criticize young voters for being childish while they resort to high school antics, sharing insults and throwing shade in the attempt to show that they’re doing their jobs.

They aren’t. 

Yes, people can protest however they want as it is their right, but since they’re politicians they kinda-sorta have the ability to really do something than the average protestor. Democrats are desperate for the young and minority vote, yet they seem to move further and further away from the ideals that we have. It can be said that they’re becoming soft, turning more into a centrist party that seems to argue within itself because it has some party members like Bernie Sanders and AOC who are seen as too “radical”. 

It’s difficult to properly articulate my frustration towards the party that I’d typically align myself with. It’s even more so difficult to talk about how infuriating it is to see that people applaud this performative wokeness, as if that’s really peak activism that our country needs right now.

I wish our standards were higher and I wish that our representatives would attempt to reach it, or even set that standard higher than our expectations regardless of what party we reside in. Neither party is expected to fully agree with one another, but it’s like every time I watch the news or scroll on Twitter there’s a new baby fight between two or more grown adults bickering over the little things and taking personal jabs. You get sick of it after awhile. You get sick of seeing words being valued more than action. At this point, I don’t even care if the efforts to make some sort of change goes defeated because at least something was done. 

Many people my age agree that these constant fights between politicians cause us to have less faith in them. Neither party can guarantee the vote of my generation if they don’t prove that they’re able and mature enough to earn it.