On November 13, Joseph R. Biden was declared President-Elect of the United States and will be our new U.S. President. As the Trump Era soon comes to a close in the United States, allow us to look back at our country over these four years the Trump Administration has been in power and what it can tell us about our country’s current status as a nation. 

On January 20, 2017, Donald John Trump was sworn into the Presidency, beating the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The 2016 Trump Campaign, promising much to the people of our country, alarmed many. Trump himself branded  his campaign with his famous slogan “Make America Great Again” as he announced his plans to build a wall between the border of the United States and Mexico. Frankly, the reason Donald Trump won was not because the majority of the country wanted him in power, it’s because he mobilized support in key swing states. Disappointingly, people who had voted for other Democratic candidates who dropped out, decided not to vote at all. Some ended up voting for third party candidates which brought Clinton’s numbers down. 

I myself went to the Hillary Clinton “Victory Party” on the night of the election and left with disappointment in our country, and, in all honesty, with confusion. I had seen the Trump campaign on TV and the ideas he proposed to do as president. People never thought he could win with that talk, but at the party when I saw the polls come in, the whole audience knew how the night would end. The promise of building a wall between Mexico and the United States to prevent the country from “criminals” as Trump said when referring to people who reside in Mexico. He announced that Mexico would pay for the wall as well. Many accused him of being xenophobic and racist, but still his supporters backed him up and agreed. Through every lie our president has told, there have always been people to try and defend his actions. 

Puerto Rico stands out as another famous example. When the island was struck by Hurricane Maria, he went down there to throw toilet paper into crowds of people instead of handing it to them and even suggested selling the island. 

The fact that Donald J. Trump was elected to the United States, and earned 73 million American votes this November, tells us that ideologies of xenophobia, systemic racism, and violence are still very prevalent in this country. They have not vanished with Biden’s election. 

On August 28 of this year Trump tweeted, “The ‘suburban housewife’ will be voting for me. They want safety & are thrilled that I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade the neighborhood. Biden would reinstall it, in a bigger form, with Corey Booker in charge! @foxandfriends @MariaBartiromo.” 

Note how Trump used the word “invade” when discussing the addition of low income housing to suburban neighborhoods. The majority of residents in low-income housing are African-American or Latino men and women. This tweet mostly speaks for itself as he’s trying to conjure an image of the suburbs being “exclusive” and safe from people of color: perfect example of a racist dog whistle. 

One person responded to the President’s tweet saying, “Democrats are destroying America, we must vote for Trump in November to keep them from destroying it.” another example of the beliefs and ideologies of many Trump supporters. 

Looking at a more recent event, November 2nd to be precise, a Biden-Harris bus was harassed and assaulted by several Trump supporters in pickup trucks. They attempted to block the way for the bus to get through before legal enforcement arrived. Trump promptly tweeted on that day, “I LOVE TEXAS!” with an attached video of the incident. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida responded with praise for the event, exclaiming how he loved what the Trump supporters did. The symbolism is hard to miss: an angry group of people in the deep south surrounding a bus with people of many races.  It’s very sad that people would praise and honor such a preposterous action, and it really tells us what many of our country’s residents’ mindsets are; bigotry and hate. This act of harassment and the way people enjoy it is disturbing and unsettling. 

Hopefully with the Biden Harris Administration being ushered in, much of our country’s division will be resolved and we can put our great country back on the correct path we all deserve and need. We as a country need to be better and put ourselves on the right track. The United States isn’t called ‘United’ to have us constantly be divided and fighting with one another. Families and friends are torn apart on political matters such as the presidential election. What are we telling the world about our country? That we are constantly divided and arguing? These are the weaknesses of our country that are constantly being shown to the globe and we need to repair and heal our great country. We can only look towards the best ahead and hope for the better as we attempt to correct the damage the Trump Administration has caused to this country.