Make America Great Again. This might be the most bold and controversial sentence you could say nowadays, especially in a largely blue city like Arlington, and even more so at H-B. Even Trump/Vance lawn signs have been stolen. And this vitriol isn’t just directed at President Trump himself; his supporters are also, by extension just as dangerous and violent as he supposedly is.
And while Donald Trump has been characterized as a vicious enemy of journalists, there has been so much fake news about him going around. From CNN publishing that Trump was “rushed off stage after falling” after he got shot in the face, or pundits saying he was calling for an insurrection when he was talking about the state of the economy. It’s no wonder why Americans’ trust in the media is at a record low.
We are told that a Trump presidency would destroy democracy. People seem to be forgetting that Trump has already been president, and that he got voted out. They’re ignoring that there were no wars and lower inflation, but they definitely want us to remember January 6th, where the man in control of the military supposedly told a crowd of protesters to overthrow the government.
Project 2025, an outline by a conservative organization for the next republican president, has also stoked these flames. While it does outline some far-right ideas, Donald Trump himself has condemned it, saying: “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”
People should not feel scared or threatened because they don’t agree with the majority. We, as a community and as a country, need to wake up and realize that we are not enemies. We don’t have to agree with each other. We can try to convince each other, but we cannot control each other. As historian Daniel Boorstin said, “Disagreement is the lifeblood of democracy, dissension is its cancer.”