Why Trump Happened - Jack Stewart
By the time this piece reaches the public, our country will have already decided its future for the next four years and onwards. A president will have been chosen. A new Supreme Court justice is on the way. An entire party now needs to reorganize itself in the wake of the hurricane that was Donald Trump. I have no way of knowing, but I can only hope that Hillary won.
Basically, if this election has proven anything, it has proven that citizens of the United States will stick with their guns and are surely not willing to back down.
This season has been, for lack of a better word, extraordinary. It has been filled with ups and downs, insults and attacks and even memes and parodies. It has shown how this country, no matter what anyone says about connectivity and unity and whatnot, is still fiercely divided over fundamental issues. Is this a good thing? I say yes; without a doubt, it shows that people aren’t afraid to voice their opinions, no matter how contrarian they are (aside from this, it also shows one of the key aspects of a functioning democracy: people having opposite opinions). Basically, if this election has proven anything, it has proven that citizens of the United States will stick with their guns and are surely not willing to back down.
However, even though dissenting opinions are all good and fun, they have torn a gash in this country that will take years, if not decades, to fix. America’s ugly underbelly has been exposed to the world—an underbelly that still promotes homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny and racism. Donald Trump didn’t create his own party based on a platform of fear and hate: It was always there. Buried within millions of Americans are fundamentally wrong opinions, completely outlandish lies and disgustingly outdated ideas.
This is a hard line, and obviously, I am not implying that all Americans are fear-mongering racists. In fact, I would say the contrary. A good majority of voters are not bigoted. But unfortunately, those who are shed a terrible light on the rest of us. We must keep in mind that we are all parts of a greater whole. If some parts are prejudiced and bigoted, it doesn’t serve the whole too well at all. The fact that Donald Trump even had a platform really does show the steps that the United States has to take in order to demonstrate the world that we really are a welcoming country.
Donald Trump’s platform was one that appealed to many Americans. Why? He used scare-tactics and preyed upon the insecurities of Americans. He told them Mexicans were hopping the border left and right, bringing drugs and crime. He told them the Muslims were conspiring and complacent with terrorist attacks. He told them that China created global warming as a hoax in order to further their economy whilst crippling ours. All of these completely outrageous lies were accepted because Americans were scared of everything: their financial lives after ’08, terrorism, job insecurity. Trump plucked these nerves and in doing so, manipulated the GOP into doing exactly what he wanted.
It goes without saying that American democracy cannot run without dissenting opinions. But sometimes, these opinions get out of hand. Racist demagogues should not have a platform. Racist voters should not be able to sway an election with ease. Crazies on both sides of the political spectrum really shouldn’t be taken seriously at all. Yet even though they shouldn’t be taken seriously (and most certainly shouldn’t run for president), many have the capacity to offer insightful perspectives and open one’s eyes to new opinions on different subjects. They aren’t really there to change your mind or convert you to their skewed ideologies; instead, they’re there to help people make their own moderate decisions.