What We Learned From Trump’s Impeachment

Indeed, the generation that ‘made America great’ seems to have passed. The values that made America respected and looked up to all over the world—patriotic, concern about general welfare, and courage to stand up for what’s right—seem gone. John Wayne, an outspoken conservative Republican and once a symbol of the true American spirit—free, proud, and righteous—supported Vice President Richard Nixon in the presidential election of 1960 but still expressed patriotism when John F. Kennedy won the election, saying, ‘I didn’t vote for him, but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.’

Although the divide between Democrats and Republicans has steadily widened since Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980, Donald Trump seems to have adopted the position that no reconciliation between the two parties is possible. Democrats are the enemy: they are un-American and should be defeated, whatever the cost. In recent years, Trump has taken great care to develop a group of yes-men around him to help in his crusade against the Democrats. Anyone opposing him is either fired or relentlessly attacked on social media and the news. The methods and vocabulary—lying, harassment, name-calling, racist and sexist remarks—are not only used in extreme but are also often far beneath the dignity of a US President.

Remember: Donald Trump is the man behind the birther movement, which tried to discredit President Obama because of his skin color. He loves debating hot button issues—gun control, abortion, gay marriage, immigration—and then taking an extreme stance that is completely irreconcilable with the opposition, mixing it up with a couple of lies and offensive remarks. Donald Trump enjoys the fight amid polarization. His management style has always been to divide and rule. At 2016 rallies for Trump, when crowds chanted, “Lock her up!” in reference to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, he stood there smiling and soaking it up like a warm bath. Trump is not wrong about everything. That is the problem with populists. In many respects, they are right. But their methods and choice of vocabulary are wrong.

When people learned after the 2016 elections that Trump had received help from Russia to win the election, few Republicans were shocked. Most either denied it or just didn’t care. Winning, defeating the democrats, had become more important. American politics had come to a point where the enemy of my enemy is my friend, where victory means everything. Trump’s acquittal in the impeachment trial on February 6, 2020, is another fine example of how Trump has subordinated the Republican Party to his will. Therefore, in the 2020 elections, we can expect more hot button issues to further stir up animosity. Indeed, this is a dangerous path to follow for which history can attest. But hot button issues also offer a way out of polarization by mirroring the true essence behind them: trust.

Take gun control, for example. John Wayne symbolized a man who you could trust with a gun because he had a good sense of right and wrong. Indeed, the gun lobby is correct when they argue that it’s not the gun that kills; it’s the finger that pulls the trigger. But the question is, Can we still trust Trump’s finger on the trigger after all that has happened?