When Donald Trump became the president-elect of the United States a month ago on Nov. 8, the immediate reaction from Democrats and liberals was one of fear. After a month to reflect on the election and allow our strong emotions to subside, we should step back and look at the next four years as optimistically as we can. Yes, Trump, his policies and the things his administration could do are scary, but his presidency may turn out to benefit progressives and liberals in the long run.

During Trump’s presidency, the Democratic party and everyone on the left will be united in opposition to him. President Barack Obama split the natural opposition in the Democratic Party over the past eight years, as would have Hillary Clinton. Like Bill Clinton before him, he passed right-wing policies and legislations that Republicans could only dream of passing; he made George Bush’s tax cuts permanent, which George Bush couldn’t do, similar to Bill Clinton passing NAFTA, which George Bush Sr. couldn’t do either. When Republican presidents try to pass their Republican legislation, the entire Democratic congress is naturally opposed to it, disallowing it from passing. When Obama tries to pass the same thing, half the Democrats support him and it can get passed. Hillary Clinton, who based on policies is a moderate right-winger, would split the party in half in the same way.

Under Trump, however, the party will be united against him and his policies. Obama deported more Mexicans from the U.S. than any president in history, but it is difficult for liberals to oppose him because he is a Democratic president. When Trump tries similar deportation, it will be far easier to oppose him. In addition, he will put an ugly face on the horrible things we are already doing. Right now, the U.S. is bombing seven different countries, and we just ran out of bombs in Syria (if you are aware of our defense budget you will know how ridiculous that is). When Trump continues our attacks on the Middle East, people, and the media, will be far more inclined to oppose him, or even notice it at least.

Because of Trump’s presidency, the future for progressive politicians looks bright as well. Right now, Trump is filling his cabinet and transition team with highly unfavorable people such as Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani. Trump is already one of the most unfavorable candidates ever elected, and if he continues to be unfavorable it will be easier for Democrats to take back Congress in two years and win the presidency in four. Things will likely get worse under Trump, but in four years a real progressive like Elizabeth Warren will have the opportunity to win office.

We are already seeing some of these positive effects of Trump’s victory through intensified activism from the left countrywide. Just recently, protestors at Standing Rock in North Dakota won a fight to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a fight that no one expected them to have any chance of winning. As we all saw, after the election, there were hundreds of protests against the results and Trump himself. Although those specific protests did not accomplish much at first, they are extremely important and reassuring. If we can channel that energy and passion for the next four years, we can accomplish so much in the next four years, just through activism. Even though the next four years are scary, even though all three branches of the government are held by the Republican party, we still have so much power as citizens. Real change has never happened because of the government. Congressmen didn’t wake up one day in the 1920s and decide to give women the right to vote—that was a right fought for and won by people, by activists. With activism and energy, we can still advance our nation on the right track even amidst a Trump presidency.