The Trump Administration has me feeling lost. It’s a familiar feeling, yet dishearteningly existential. At first, I was confused about its origins. But, over time, I’ve come to know this sensation fairly well. I’ve realized my aimlessness is largely due to the lack of a unifying figure in the country. Specifically, President Trump does not fulfill the traditional role of a unifier, as many presidents before him have. He does not seek to bridge the divides in our nation, but rather his rhetoric aims to dishearten and discourage his opponents.
I understand why President Trump hasn’t taken this role: it’s difficult. There’s a reason Lincoln often tops the lists of greatest presidents. Some of our most cherished Presidents have played this role, and it is certainly not an easy one. President Trump already defers much of his duties to various aids within the West Wing, opting to spend copious amounts of time watching TV and checking Twitter (often denoted “Executive Time” on daily schedules according to Axios). It’s not too surprising he hasn’t taken on this challenge. Even his campaign rhetoric, which appeals to the lowest common denominator by employing some of the nastiest scare tactics in politics today, is the easy route.
As a politics major much of my time is spent reading and studying politics, and as a result, I’d like to think I have a pretty good sense for the political sentiment in the country. It’s far from perfect (I live in NYC and go to one of the most liberal institutions in the nation to be fair), but I spend a lot of time trying to break the ideological bubble that surrounds me, and with any luck that has at least somewhat paid off. And it seems like we are a country adrift. A large part of this is due to the lack of a structure to the Trump presidency. The sheer volatility of Trump’s Twitter is something that would hinder other President’s agenda, but since Trump doesn’t have a clear policy agenda he’s free to express himself, for lack of a better term, liberally on Twitter. Many decisions are made days before they are announced, with others not even being announced at all (James Comey was not told of his firing and only found out when he saw it on television).
I believe that the tumultuous nature of this White House has lasting implications on our nation. I’m not saying that everyone feels this way, nor am I claiming that if Trump announced his plan for the next six months on Twitter would this feeling go away. I believe it’s something more complicated than that, and I haven’t entirely come to terms with yet. But, from what I have seen, when we as a nation have someone in office whose goal is to unify us, we are all better off.
-Kevin Hanley
