Is the United States defined by Donald Trump?

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A

ant_

not characteristic of ants at all
It's a sentiment I see and feel a lot on here.

A summary of the sentiment:
The United States is going backwards. It's filled with white & racist Americans who want to ban minorities from the country. White Nationalism is becoming more fervent and popular then ever before. The United States is poised to regress in the coming years & will go backwards on civil rights for minorities.

Are we really defined by the election of Donald Trump? This is the same country that elected Barack Obama. This is the same country that overwhelmingly voted for Hillary Clinton (reminder that Donald Trump simply won due to the electoral college; not majority opinion). I like to believe that most Americans do not uphold the ideas that are supposed by Donald Trump. Is there facts disagreeing with this? Is there something that shows that this regression is on the rise?

I'm legitimately asking the question - I'm from California and largely consider myself to be in a unique bubble when it comes to progressiveness. I'm considering the fact that I may be naive due to living here.
 
M

Mr. X

Member
The majority (as in those holding power, not the % of popularion) has spoken. Look at the justice system, look at the police. It's rotten at the core.
 
R

Rival

Gold Member
The United States will never be defined by a single person, thought, religion, value, or belief.
 
J

Jacob

Member
No.

Also, the idea that white nationalism/white supremacism is more popular than ever before is utterly ridiculous.
 
V

valkillmore

Member
quesalupa said:
No, he didn't even win the popular vote.
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But he won the presidency. He was elected president of the United States. He won the election. Isn't the president the defining symbol of where the country is at that moment? I'm probably not right and happy to be reasoned.
 
A

A Link to the Past

Banned
Solely, no. But I do think that Donald Trump is one of two defining people in our country alongside Obama.

Speaking of, I remember when I called Trump the conservative Obama. I would have been so happy to have been wrong lol
 
P

Platy

Member
Yes. EVERYTHING you guys did lead to this particular moment.

Choosing the election type that someone without the popular vote can win, loving guns since the beginning, having a war over slaves, the whole weird 2 party system AND it switching sides long time ago BECAUSE of the racial issue, the normalization of trump's hate speech created by the same celebrity culture you export to all over the world with hollywood, the whole not properly teaching what free speech means to people, given the entire political body majority for trump's party ...


And to be fair, it is not like my country is any better =P
 
Audioboxer

Audioboxer

Member
Nope, the country will still be here once Trump is out of the WH. However I think some are defined by Trump, hence the belief he'll never leave the WH as a nuclear war is imminent and America will be over in less than 4 years.

Outside of that nonsense everyone on GAF seems fairly young, or at least has a bit to go. Continue to engage politically and try to vote and encourage for what you believe. Politics is always a long haul, not just 4 years. Best to remember that or you'll "kill" yourself from despair and hyperbole. Rough times might be inbound but a future can be a future. That is if you attempt to make one and don't succumb to just scorching the earth you walk on.
 
Q

quesalupa

Member
valkillmore said:
But he won the presidency. He was elected president of the United States. He won the election. Isn't the president the defining symbol of where the country is at that moment? I'm probably not right and happy to be reasoned.
Click to expand...
Are we talking about the U.S government or the entire U.S? The current government is defined by Trump, as he is the leader, but nearly 3 million more people don't want him than do. He is not the defining symbol of the people.

Ishan said:
America no . Significant portion of populace and sentiment in 2016 yes .
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.
 
M

Massive Duck. C.M.

Banned
Audioboxer said:
Nope, the country will still be here once Trump is out of the WH. However I think some are defined by Trump, hence the belief he'll never leave the WH as a nuclear war is imminent and America will be over in less than 4 years.

Outside of that nonsense everyone on GAF seems fairly young, or at least has a bit to go. Continue to engage politically and try to vote and encourage for what you believe. Politics is always a long haul, not just 4 years. Best to remember that or you'll "kill" yourself from despair and hyperbole. Rough times might be inbound but a future can be a future.
Click to expand...

How much time have you spent in America
 
Allforce

Allforce

Member
Platy said:
Yes. EVERYTHING you guys did lead to this particular moment.

Choosing the election type that someone without the popular vote can win, loving guns since the beginning, having a war over slaves, the whole weird 2 party system AND it switching sides long time ago BECAUSE of the racial issue, the normalization of trump's hate speech created by the same celebrity culture you export to all over the world with hollywood, the whole not properly teaching what free speech means to people, given the entire political body majority for trump's party ...


And to be fair, it is not like my country is any better =P
Click to expand...

I had a big response about how NO we're not defined by Trump and blablablabla but as an American I read this and nodded my head in agreement.

Well said, and changed my mind. A first in Internet History™
 
J

Jacob

Member
valkillmore said:
But he won the presidency. He was elected president of the United States. He won the election. Isn't the president the defining symbol of where the country is at that moment? I'm probably not right and happy to be reasoned.
Click to expand...

Has Obama been the defining symbol of where the country was the past eight years? I guess to some extent it depends on what you mean by "defining" but I would say no. I do not think that one individual can "define" what nearly 325 million other individuals are like. Even if we set aside individuals and just look at the institutions of the country, there are many significant institutions that are not part of the government, and even within the government thanks to separation of powers and federalism the authority of the President is far from boundless (especially when it comes to domestic policy).
 
D

DavidDesu

Member
I'd say that your republicans in every branch of government are absolutely backwards and that's been more and more evident in recent years. Now that Trump has won and the republicans also hold all the keys to the kingdom, the crap stuff they've desperately been chiselling away at is soon going to explode. Looking at the daily miscarriages of justice against minorities, seemingly on an endless spiral of cruelness and crassness, it's not far from being truly horrific what could and likely will happen in the next few years. Being openly racist is somehow acceptable again, a situation I never thought America could revert to. We know it's always been there but now there's absolutely no arbiter to step in as many of them are just as fucking racist and are now unleashed.

Dark days ahead, and no America shouldn't be defined by Trump, but by every reasonable measure he is your president, everything that got him to that position is endemically an American concern, so yeah, maybe he does. Even though the majority of Americans are decent people enough are fucked up enough that here we are. And yeah I do allude back to Nazi era Germany, the similarities are kind of there, and if Trump is in for 8 years and with the team of people he's got, literally anything could happen I fear. Trump is fucking President, all bets are off! And anyone claiming Godwin's law and laughing at the idea need to tell me how completely fine Trumps attitude to Muslims is.... its terrifying.
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
He wouldn't have even won the primary if there weren't so many anti-trump candidates splitting the ticket.

And then he didn't even win the election except by dumb electoral college math. He's even going to start his first term with an underwater approval rating.

He'll define America as much as Putin or Kim Jong Un define their country, but he's not a good definition of who americans want to be their leader.
 
D

Dishwalla

Banned
No. He got elected by the people, but he's going to have a rough four years, a very good amount of our population will be against him every step of the way.
 
K

KernelPanic

Member
USA is seriously divided politically red vs blue, cities vs. rural areas etc.

Considering Obama got elected twice I can't believe the majority of country is openly racist but there are some serious racial tensions like any other country maybe amplified due to country history and population size. Trump and the GOP capitalized on them
 
G

GreenMonkey

Member
It's not just Trump. You could write that off to one close election.

Most states at this point are Republican controlled and/or have Republican governors.

It's the trend right now. Plenty of arguments could be made for why.

Myself I have a tendency to point to conservative Christians and conservative fake Christians (I.E. the people that barely go to church but know gay people are going straight to hell and say "we didn't come from no monkeys"). But I'm not sure I could back up my feeling with enough facts to make a good case for it.
 
K

KilgoreTrout

Banned
America is no different than before. The only difference is the illusion of progress many of us held has been ripped away. Many feel it shows an issue with our attention-based anxiety-filled economy. We are to the point where superficial identity issues govern our way of thinking. I have been surprised by the amount of people from all leanings getting their political education through memes this election.

Outside of the issues relating to media, we're a country built on violence of every fashion. Built on a dream that willingly exploits others at worst, and implicitly/subconsciously at best.

You can probably tell I'm reading Between The World And Me right now.

Pinning the issues brought up by his election on him alone is dim. Finding simplistic rationalizations for complicated systemic issues is irresponsible.

This is not to discount his clear ability to worsen the America we know with nationalistic totalitarian policies.
 
M

Massive Duck. C.M.

Banned
ant_ said:
Come on man, have a discussion. That's not cool.
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I'm not a fan of people advocating for complacency in the face of what's to come. It's easy to call people hysterical when you'll barely be affected.

Trump is more representative of America than it makes people comfortable to admit.
 
LordKasual

LordKasual

Banned
No...

He lost the popular vote

and like nobody voted


Obama got elected, half the country vehemently hated him. Trump got elected, half the country will vehemently hate him. This is just how it works.
 
Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Massive Duck said:
I'm not a fan of people advocating for complacency in the face of what's to come. It's easy to call people hysterical when you'll barely be affected.

Trump is more representative of America than it makes people comfortable to admit.
Click to expand...

How was he advocating for complacency when he specifically put, "Continue to engage politically and try to vote and encourage for what you believe." in his post?
 
F

Freeza Under The Shower

Member
Jintor said:
For better or for worse the President America elects is America's face to the world
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the correct answer, and his influence on US policy will be far from innocent as well. I don't believe the people are literally defined by the 20% vote though.

But I also don't think anyone is going to be willing to stomach such a disaster for the next 30 years either. So even he doesn't define the country, the future of the country will be defined by his presidency. As short he may reign at that. I mean, it's obvious he can't be trusted with anything and even the GOP isn't jumping for joy at the idea of tolerating him.
 
U

Usobuko

Banned
United States deserve the criticism for whatever shit Trump administration is going to pull in the next 4 years and with climate change, the impact is more global than national.
 
X

Xe4

Banned
Jacob said:
No.

Also, the idea that white nationalism/white supremacism is more popular than ever before is utterly ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Yup, white supermicy is actually probably the least popular it's ever been. The obly difference is Trunp got those mother fuckers to show their faces.

Unfortunately, whether or not he won the popular vote, he is our next president, and America is going to be viewed as such.
 
E

Extra Sauce

Member
No one person can define such a divided country.

Unless they have dissociative personality disorder I guess? Trump has a mental illness but I don't think it's that.
 
D

Dynomutt

Member
No. Never.

What I find shameful is that we waited this long to have this internal reflection. What just happened with this election shows what occurs when we rest on our laurels. An opportunity was presented 8 years ago and instead of capitalizing on that and growing we reverted.
 
E

El_Mau

Member
No, Trump as POTUS can't possibly define what 300+ million people feel like, but sadly in the world stage, he will define your nation, just like Putin defines what Russia is.
 
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