The United States is clearly struggling with its political health. Our current president, who was elected with the support of both the electoral college and the majority of voters, has so far held a term in office characterized by repeated attacks on fundamental aspects of the United States government, its political system, and the standards that have upheld the republic for nearly two and a half centuries. Neither is this onslaught against the nation’s most foundational democratic tenets recent. In fact, what makes the situation feel all the more fraught is that much of this was not unpredictable. Donald Trump won in 2024 after four years of repeatedly denying the results of the past election. Yet the people still decided he was the best choice for the office. Something must be going wrong.
Donald Trump and his authoritarian, narcissistic, yet perversely appealing (to some) personality is itself one of the most significant direct causes of the decline in America’s political health. Truly launching his political career in 2015, Trump’s time in the spotlight has been characterized by a pattern of bullying people into submitting to his will. While Trump’s support comes from a wide range of people – from diehard MAGA types with a cult-like obsession, to moderates who provide their support for economic purposes – he has managed to leverage this following to ensure that any elected Republican who defies him must fear being ‘primaried’ and losing their seat of power. Similarly, cabinet members have been chosen for their strict ideological fealty to Trump. This has created a political movement that does not permit dissent and demands near-religious-level loyalty to its leader, Donald Trump.
Frighteningly, this loyalty has in some cases proven stronger than loyalty to the United States, its fundamental founding principles, its historical precedents, and even its constitution. Many Republicans followed Trump’s lead in refusing to accept the 2020 election. When Trump didn’t initially reject the idea of a third term (an idea which he later acknowledged he would not pursue), many Republicans refused to do so as well, even suggesting that there were loopholes in the 22nd Amendment to allow Trump a third term. Similarly, his attacks on the judges who have stopped some of his executive orders demonstrate his hostility toward the principle of the separation of powers created by the Constitution almost 240 years ago.
This particular kind of challenge to the American system is without precedent in American history. However, the country has faced many other challenges, out of which new lessons and the nation as we know it have emerged. To overcome the challenges of Trumpism, one must understand that America has weathered other political storms and will survive this one, too.
Our country is not in its most divided time. In direct response to the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 – a man everyone knew wanted to stop the spread of slavery into the nation’s new western territories – southern states seceded from the Union, beginning the Civil War. While they did not deny the result of the election, the losers of the election were so dissatisfied with Lincoln’s victory, they determined they could no longer remain part of the country. In this situation, of course, the United States was not going to be torn apart without a fight, and the Union prevailed after four years of the deadliest fighting in American history. Following the end of the war, the federal government began the process of Reconstruction, which, though it reintegrated the former Confederate states into the Union, completely failed at addressing the problems that newly freed black Americans would face. This failure led to the persistence of virulent racism in the South and to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. It also caused mass poverty and enormous economic disparities for the millions of black Americans living in the South. These vast challenges were confronted by the brave leadership of the Civil Rights Movement, and many were vanquished, though the legacy of centuries of racism and oppression remain evident. And while across the South some fringe radicals still sport “If at first you don’t secede…” bumper stickers, for the most part, the South was reintegrated into the Union only a few years after the end of the American Civil War, showing that America can overcome even the most potent internal division – albeit not without lasting consequences.
There is also an analogy to Donald Trump in Andrew Jackson, the seventh president. Jackson’s participation in slavery and infamous Indian Removal Act aside, his worse-than-subpar political behavior bore a number of similarities to Donald Trump’s antics. Both are populists who have sought to muscle in on the power of other branches of government. Jackson, for example, ignored the demands of the Supreme Court with regard to the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation. Instead, Jackson (along with the State of Georgia) simply went ahead with his own will. Jackson did not enforce the decided position of the Supreme Court and instead allowed the State of Georgia to remove Native Americans from their land in direct rejection of the Supreme Court’s decision. While Jackson later acknowledged that the Supreme Court did in fact hold ultimate authority, this did not undo the material effects of his lawbreaking. Jackson also appointed those he knew would be loyal to him, though to nowhere near the same extent as Trump. As a result, Donald Trump idolizes Jackson. Jackson’s presence in history proves that although our country has gone through periods of populism that even approach mob rule, we can survive these and emerge a once-again healthy democracy.
Similarly, the era-defining illiberal phenomenon of the 1950s, the Red Scare, has lessons to teach us today. This years-long period was one in which many Americans feared that Communist influence was pervasive in civil society and media. Led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, anti-Communist politicians suppressed Americans’ fundamental civil liberties, including the right to freedom of speech. McCarthy’s tactics bear similarities to some used by Trump today. The two both make heavy use of fear tactics, building on what are often irrational fears. Similarly, they demand complete and utter loyalty to their cause, and, in reality, to themselves. For example, anyone who defied McCarthy’s policies was branded a Communist, and nowadays, those in his own party who reject Trump’s movement are labeled “RINOs.” Both leaders, in doing this, are able to crack down on freedom of expression without doing so directly, instead using a kind of mob rule to enforce their illiberal will. However, people eventually saw McCarthy’s authoritarian tactics for the sham that they were, and after McCarthy made a number of meritless accusations (including against U.S. military figures), he lost credibility and support.
McCarthy’s downfall hits on an important fact that was true at the time and remains true today. At heart, Americans are a people who believe in liberal democracy. While some may get caught up in emotion and the heat of populism – as is human nature – the truth is that democratic republicanism has been part of our history for nearly two and a half centuries. Many Americans are misled by influential people like Trump to believe things that are simply untrue. As history has shown, challenges to our system, including those that may seem nearly insurmountable as we undergo them, can and will be overcome. Trump’s influence on the country proves that there is a problem with our political health. After all, a 2023 Gallup poll showed that a large majority of Americans (the largest yet) are dissatisfied with the state of democracy in the country. But this is temporary, and once we emerge, we will come with new lessons to teach the future that they may not allow demagogues to rise again. In order to reach that point, however, we will need Americans to remain true to the values this country stands for. While a bright future is not guaranteed, one ought to have faith in the American people to chart that path going forward.
