Australia and the World Past and Present

The Trump presidency has and will certainly be influential. Its effects will probably remain long after he steps down from power.

Does Trump provide a good example for young Americans? Your answer to that question will come down to how you view Trump. His supporters will say yes and his detractors will say no.

Those partial to Trump will say that he has the courage to say what he thinks and that he has attempted to drain the swamp of Washington D.C. of a patronising and elitist culture. They will contend that he has tried to stand up for the everyman and that he is resilient – that he is a fighter. They will say that he displays American ambition and drive. That he gets things done and has succeeded in winding back damaging woke culture.

That he is a fighter, is something that we can be sure about.

American culture is one of ambition. Getting ahead is seen as a positive cultural trait. If you are not trying to get ever more power, status and material possessions, Americans may well think there is something wrong with you.

Material advancement and the acquisition of power may well be part of America culture. But Trump is that on steroids.

Trump’s drive for power comes with hard edges. He is verbally abusive. He has no problem with seeing perceived enemies destroyed.

For him, political sparring partners are more sworn enemies that should be crushed rather than people who should be debated or even tolerated. They should not be left alone to their own devices.

The danger to American culture is that young children will think this is how a president should behave. He becomes the template. Young children will be less aware of other presidential models of the past – the prevailing models for most of American history. The memory of recent presidents, such as Biden, Obama, or even George W. Bush, are receeding into the past.

For today’s young Americans, a president calls people names, denigrates them, tells journalists they are terrible, fires anyone he is displeased with, orders foreign leaders captured from their bed in the middle of the night, and basically does whatever he wants.

There may be a long tail to the Trump presidency. At this point in time it looks as thought decency in the body politic in the U.S. is decline. There have long been divisions within America. Many of those preceded Trump. But he has inflamed them.

Time will tell whether the tone will drastically change once Trump steps down or whether Trump has cemented a nastiness in the system that endures for multiple presidential cycles.