If the Trump debacle has taught us anything, it is that the
United States is not united at all. Even after one of the bloodiest civil wars
ever fought within a country’s borders, after decades of civil rights
struggles, after two world wars, after generations of Americans have looked
back at the sins of their ancestors, we remain a deeply divided nation.
Throughout the twentieth century, we pretended to be
something unique in the world, a large country where people of many races,
religions and ethnicities lived together in harmony and worked side by side for
the common good. It was wonderfully aspirational, but never a reality. It only
worked in theory, as long as minorities, immigrants, women and other groups of
non-white males accepted their place in the hierarchy of our patriarchal
society. The deep cracks in the foundation of this country, on both the left
and the right, were papered over with copies of the constitution that no one
had any other use for.
The Trump campaign ripped off the flimsy façade of American
exceptionalism, exposing the lingering rot and decay of racism, sexism,
misogyny and xenophobia among our country’s resentful middle and lower-class
whites. There is one thing that Trump is truly an expert at, and that is
manipulating and channeling people’s anger. His skill was evident during the
presidential campaign, as he publically buried “political correctness” and gave
whites permission to vent their frustrations and hostilities in public for the
world to see.
The result has been an ugly and embarrassing spectacle, not
to mention the Trump as president thing. Despite the best efforts of the
Founding Fathers, ignorance won the day, and a despot ascended to highest
office in the land. Our country is as openly divided as it has been since the
Civil War. The next four years could very well determine whether we remain the
United States of America.
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