This year’s Thanksgiving season has never been more divided among Americans. Two weeks after the 2024 presidential election, many people have expressed such tremendous anger, hurt, confusion, and betrayal that they either canceled Thanksgiving, chose not to participate, or decided to uninvite family members and friends due to their vote for Donald Trump.

“God Bless America. God bless #45, 47.” It had a few likes, and a few commenters joined him in his celebration. He was downstairs in the kitchen making coffee, and I was upstairs avoiding him. I couldn’t talk to him — or even look at him.” Guest Writer Andrea Tate stated in Huff Post.  “I immediately texted, “I love you, but out of respect for me and all my liberal writer friends, can you please take down that post? Also, tell your family I love them, but I will not be coming for Thanksgiving, and I won’t be hosting Christmas. I need space.””

Therefore, to lighten the mood, I want to bring attention to a musical piece that was created at a time when Americans were just as equally divided during the Thanksgiving season, but for a different reason, and that reason was the COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020. This musical piece is known as Thanksgiving: The TikTok Musical and was created by Musical Artist Daniel Mertzlufft and English Actor and Comedian James Corden

The TikTok musical piece debuted on The Late Late Show With James Corden when James Corden invited Daniel Mertzlufft to his talk show virtually to surprise Daniel with the Thanksgiving TikTok musical that he created with a star-studded cast that also included himself.

“Tuesday night saw the late-night host invite TikTok star Dan Mertzluft onto his show to create a musical for Thanksgiving, where he played the role of a college kid who has been stuck at home for eight months. Corden was the Dad who wears holiday sweaters and is “loving life.”” Associate Editor Trilby Beresford in The Hollywood Reporter. “The late-night host also brought along Kristin Chenoweth to play the mother who is “living for Thanksgiving” right now, along with Patti LuPone, Josh Groban, Josh Gad, and Audra McDonald, to participate in some holiday duets.”

According to Trilby, the inspiration for this musical came from a previous TikTok Musical that also starred Daniel Mertzluft, which was created during the pandemic, and it was called Grocery Store: The TikTok Musical, a musical which James Corden absolutely loved. “Now, I’m not sure if you saw this, but a few weeks back, a brilliant TikToker by the name of Dan posted a video of himself performing an original musical theater number about being in a grocery store, and it was glorious,” James stated on his talk show.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the grocery store TikTok musical, and I enjoyed the Thanksgiving TikTok musical because it’s a reminder of what Thanksgiving is and what it’s supposed to be about…unity. Unity is something that’s lacking now more than ever before, all because of Donald Trump’s victory in the election. The fact that many people won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving due to who people voted, paints an unfortunate picture of how much politics has negatively impacted lives because it’s caused people to turn against one another instead of bringing people closer to one another.

In the Thanksgiving musical, there’s a moment wherein a Trump supporter is at the dinner table, and he’s talking about how the 2020 election was rigged, stolen, and not legitimate. Daniel’s character in the musical is someone who’s easily frustrated about the Thanksgiving season because his family is always fighting. Other people are happy and in the mood to celebrate Thanksgiving because it’s a seasonal occasion where people can be together and enjoy one another’s company.

In a time like this, Thanksgiving: The TikTok Musical should be a reminder for people that regardless of their political differences, it shouldn’t change the relationships that they have with their family, friends, colleagues, or significant others. You may not always agree with who you support, and you may not always agree with who someone chooses to vote for. Still, it shouldn’t change the love you have for one another and your desire to be with one another, especially during a celebratory occasion such as Thanksgiving.

It’s also important to remember that when it comes to elections, people make mistakes. Yes, millions of people do make a choice, but sometimes people realize later (especially the hard way) that the choice they made for president was a mistake. In this case, many Trump supporters already regret their choice to vote for Donald Trump for president. There are stories where people express regret because it caused them to lose their family and loved ones, and in other stories, people regret voting for Trump due to them realizing the reality of Donald Trump’s policies.

“In other stories, we hear about Trump supporters who are expressing utter confusion and despair after voting “against Obamacare” in the hopes that Trump would still keep the Affordable Care Act—that they rely on—and then discovering that Obamacare IS the ACA.” Writer Jennifer Sandlin stated in Bing Bong. “We also hear about people who don’t understand how tariffs work and are shocked and dismayed to learn that prices for all kinds of goods are going to skyrocket.”

So, in a time like this, no one should brag to people by saying, “I told you so.” we need to be more unified than that and reach out to people saying, “Look, you made a mistake. I’m sorry you had to realize that the hard way, but I’m here for you, and we’re going to get through this together.”

In conclusion, Thanksgiving: The TikTok Musical reminded me of the importance of unity even when faced with political differences because we need each other.