President Trump’s tenure as the leader of the United States was nothing short of a disaster for the fabric of our society. His divisive rhetoric and behavior not only fueled hatred and discrimination but also normalized and encouraged despicable actions. From derogatory remarks about immigrants, women, and minority groups to his blatant disregard for facts and truth, Trump set a dangerous precedent that threatens the very foundation of our democratic society.
As if that wasn’t enough, his blatant disregard for facts and truth has cultivated a culture of misinformation and conspiracy theories that threaten to tear the fabric of our communities. From his promotion of the racist “birther” movement to his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, Trump gave license for other individuals to act out behaviors normal inhibited by civil society. The only thing he could be trusted to do is to lie. I would include act in self-interest, but that is a bridge to far. His feeble intelligence prevents him from saving himself. This can be seen by his ceaseless attacks upon the judges who have a large degree of influence over his fate. That be said, the thought of him working in the interest of others inconceivable. The easiest example is his “super spreader event” where he not only facilitated infecting his guests but managed to get himself sick. That was very efficient and effective act of sabotage. His tactics are ham-handed. Shattering the credibility of institutions like the media and government aren’t even considerations as long as it will endear him to his base. By undermining truth and dismissing reality, Trump he paved the way for others to embrace falsehoods and reject empirical and demonstrable evidence. In this, he made impossible to reason with, further eroding the foundation of our republic.
Starting with Trump’s divisive rhetoric, the man has made a career out of spewing hate and intolerance towards anyone who doesn’t fit into his narrow view of what America should be. His comments about immigrants being rapists and criminals, his sexist remarks about women, and his general disdain for anyone who doesn’t look, think, or act like him have emboldened individuals to express similar sentiments. Through his normalization of hateful language and behavior, Trump has done near irreparable damage to the progress made over the last few decades.
Trump’s other virtues include authoritarian tendencies and lack of accountability. The man refuses to accept responsibility for his actions, attacks the judicial system and media as “fake news,” while pardoning individuals convicted of crimes without a second thought. By labeling critics as “enemies of the people” and encouraging his supporters to engage in confrontational and aggressive behavior towards adversaries. He demonized political opponents and dismissed dissent, which only increased the polarization and hostility of citizens. He fostered an “us vs. them” mentality that hindered constructive dialogue and compromise. Instead of working towards common goals and finding common ground, Trump pitted Americans against each other in a never-ending cycle of division and distrust.
And let’s not forget Trump’s complete lack of empathy and compassion. As president he repeatedly demonstrated his inability or unwillingness to understand or care about the suffering of other people. He recklessly handled tragedies like the COVID-19 pandemic. His dehumanizing language toward protesters and marginalized communities are just a small sample of his indifference and callousness. Through these actions, his followers felt justified in behaving the same way. He idealized as well as promoted a “winner-takes-all” mentality. Power and wealth were glorified and encouraged selfishness and greed while distorting empathy and cooperation into vices rather than virtues. I’d be remiss if I neglected to remind all of how the policies of his administration benefited the wealthy at the expense of the poor. Clearly indicating how he values profit over people.
For his followers, Trump’s divisive rhetoric and behavior emboldened them to express similar sentiments of hate and intolerance. His attacks on immigrants, women, and minority groups have given them permission to openly display discriminatory behavior. His disregard for facts and truth has also led them to question established institutions, but blindly follow his statements. His supporters refuse to seek verification or validation of the truth of his words, preferring to embrace conspiracy theories. These conspiracy theories facilitate the ability to displace responsibility by being able to someone or something is the cause of their problems. Suddenly undocumented immigrants were taking all the jobs and opportunities. The reality is that many or most of these jobs are the ones that no one else is willing to do, but that part of the message gets lost in the noise. Ignoring ethical considerations, his supporters readily entertained his daily whims. His demand for complete and unilateral loyalty was given without question or regret. Their complete and absolute obedience stimulated a culture of impunity and unchecked, unethical behavior.
The damage didn’t end with his administration. By the end of it, his divisive rhetoric and actions had emboldened his followers to shed themselves of all former inhibitions. He had opened the door to attacks on immigrants, women, minorities of different races, gender identities, and sexual orientations. The 30 thousand lies told by Trump over four years weren’t enough to convince his supporters that he was not the source of all truth. Half-way through his term surveys showed that his base believed him over previous sources of information or guidance. This included everything from textbooks to their personal religious leaders to PhDs.
Public interaction among people became more tense and, in many forms, less safe. Personally, I’m hesitant to reach out to any friend who I haven’t seen since Trump’s election. When meeting a new person who I initially find to be friendly, I remain guarded until I can discern his or her political opinions. There are many family members who I resist talking with. I’ve been lucky to not have gotten into thing more than short arguments with any of them. However, places like restaurants have endured frequent incidents of people yelling at others solely because they are speaking to one another in a foreign language. This is very offensive on many levels. First, the United States does not have an official language. Secondly, the assumption that the speakers are not citizens is usually the factor that emboldens the attackers. Skin color and spoken language are insufficient points of data to determine one’s nationality. To be fair, I have witnessed this behavior before Trump’s Presidency, but the rate of recurrence has significantly increased. Similar racist behavior has manifested like challenging an individual to prove his residence in a community because he or she is a minority. On some occasions, people have called the police with no reason other than to report that there is a black person nearby. Instances such those are referred to as “weaponizing the police.” Such events are dangerous and costly. People have died because of poor handling of the situation by any party involved. City, county, and state police departments have had to pay out millions of dollars as a result of such actions. In such cases, the individual calling the police has been arrested. In other cases, the police officer has been fired or arrested.
The deal was halted at the last minute by Donald Trump, now an ordinary citizen with 91 felon counts. He decided that he need the bill voted against to allow him to prevent President Biden a victory to benefit him in the up coming election. Enough asinine Republicans in the Senate voted against it to prevent it from going to the House of Representatives. It was questionable whether it mattered since the Speaker of the House had already stated that the bill was dead on arrival. Addressing the border issue was a Republican condition for bringing any bill to the floor in the House that would grant aid to Ukraine and/or the conflict in Israel. Two international crises in which innocent lives are being harmed and many cases lost due to a political figure who is not even in office. The callous indifference of our politicians reveals that like Trump, himself, that self-interest wins out over the good of all others. In this case, defeat in the Ukraine may be the prologue to a conflict that directly involves the United States. Keeping their jobs is clearly more important than preventing the loss of their constituents as long as there are enough to vote them back into office. Political “wedge” issues are much more effective now that citizens have virtually no confidence in the news or any interest in validating the information that they are given.
From my perspective, the United States has changed more in the last eight years than the 30 years before it. This negative social evolution was eventual, some individuals say. Maybe, but by my estimation that would have happened about twenty years down the road. People are free to be as awful as they want now. In some cases, such as Florida, the behavior seems to be encouraged. The bigots and other despicable people have an advantage because they are shielded by free speech. They are also uninhibited by decency, while claiming superiority religious or otherwise. We are unable to legislate the problem away without losing our own rights. There is very little we can do without being as ugly as they are in which case we aren’t gaining anything. In cases like this, my typical response is to make the other person regret engaging me by drawing out the confrontation to the point where they realize aggravating me is more work than it’s worth. I don’t have the energy to do that to half the population, so I’m open to suggestions.
Thanks all,
— Citizen Mooney
