Donald Trump Is Making America Great Again
— Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)” class=”aligncenter size-full” />Protesters gather on the National Mall for the Women’s March on Washington during the first full day of Donald Trump’s presidency — Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
By Abbey Barker
Donald J. Trump has been President of the United States for one month. His approval ratings have seen historic lows for a newly elected President, his executive orders have sparked outrage, and his appointees have stirred controversy. All of this under the banner of “Making America Great Again.”
For liberals, the Obama years ushered in a joyous lull over the country — marriage equality succeeded, we had a VP who was passionate in his work against sexual assault, dependent on who you asked the economy was back, and Glenn Beck finally stopped screaming in front of a chalk board on cable news — surely, America will never be reminiscent of the years without progressive perseverance.
Like a bull in the china shop of idealism and hope, enter Donald J. Trump: An all-of-a-sudden Republican and long time fixture of the NBC primetime lineup, Trump promised to Make America Great Again. And he has.
New York City Women’s March, January 21, 2017. [Photo by Katherine Simao]
Trump campaigned on the platform of America as a broken institution: A country deeply flawed on the precipice of demise. We the people are victims of a colossal business transaction gone wrong and he’s just the man to change the rules and put an end to the exploitation of American good faith. His greatest success has been his stoking of an Us versus Them mentality, an ideology which opens old wounds and somehow finds time to create new ones.
Trump was not cryptic in his 2016 campaign messaging. He was deliberate in making sure we all knew that he was going to be the opposite of Obama. He was diligent in ensuring he appointed those who would be the near polar opposite of Joe Biden, Loretta Lynch, and John Kerry.
And so we rise.
In the following days after his inauguration, hundreds of thousands called their senators and representatives voicing their opposition to Trump’s cabinet appointees: Betsy DeVos, Jeff Sessions, and Ben Carson (the list goes on). We’ve seen evidence of collusion with Russia within the Trump administration, leading to the resignation of a Trump appointee.
The ACLU has gained tens of thousands of new members and saw a surge of $24 million dollars in donations in only one weekend. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee alone has raised nearly $750,000 for Planned Parenthood by selling “Nasty Woman” shirts and hoodies. Los Angeles expected under 100,000 people for their Women’s March — 750,000 showed up. Overall, between 3.3 and 4.6 million people attended the Women’s March across the United States. Lawyers were camped out in New York’s JFK airport, Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., and Boston’s Logan International Airport upon the announcement of Trump’s executive ordered immigration ban. What better time to be an American?
Subway Therapy wall in New York City’s Union Square/14th Street subway station. Taken December 2016. [Photo by Abbey Barker]
We the people are whole beings who cannot and will not be reduced to parts. As a country, our responsibility to ourselves and the freedom we hold so dear is to understand how we are complete. Our American sensibilities and culture have taught us all to be a community, looking out for one another, standing together against enemies both foreign and domestic.
For that reason, it is imperative to note that the majority of the protests, the marches, and the influx of ordinary people attending extraordinary town hall meetings are a grass roots, organic effort to stand for the values we feel make America so great.
Seeing the American people band together under the banner of hope and stability has been beautiful. Being a part of a movement which values individuals coming together is inspiring. There is a reason why so many still choose to flock here and make America their home.
As President Trump said in his inauguration speech, “January 20, 2017 will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.”
