–He Has Attacked Mainstream Media From The White House
Whether Richard Nixon or George W. Bush, many US Presidents have had poor relations with the mainstream media, but no US President has taken them on publicly, not until Donald Trump.
Whether calling CNN fake news at his pre-inauguration press conference, his Tweets calling out the New York Times and others for publishing false and misleading stories. or White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holding the media to account time and time again, this is a ground-breaking moment in modern US history.
Whereas in the past, the White House was worried about how it appeared in the eyes of the mainstream media, now the tables have turned.
Donald Trump’s use of social media to release straightforward statements to the public as well as his generally good relations with new media have taken the wind out of the sails of the old guard. They are in panic mode as a result. Nothing will ever be the same.
–He Has Challenged The Myth of American Exceptionalism
Whether Democrat or Republican, most US Presidents tend to perpetuate the increasingly irritating myth that somehow America automatically has the moral high ground in world affairs.
Recently, Fox News presenter Bill O’Reilly called President Putin a ‘killer’. President Trump responded by holding firm on his goal of good relations with Russia and more importantly said ‘We have a lot of killers…you think our country is so innocent”?
Trump went on to reference the War in Iraq as once such instance of a dreadful US killing spree.
Donald Trump has shown that one can be a patriotic American shouting ‘America first’, without buying into the myth that America’s past was perfect, when in fact it was anything but. As time progresses, these remarks will be seen as having far more significance than many think they have at present.
–Trump Has Declared War On Political Correctness
Donald Trump has said outright that ‘we don’t have time to be politically correct’. He mocks those who are and has stated time and time again both directly and through his implied rhetoric, that America ought to return to straight talking, free speech without caveats, and rhetorical realism.
His recent attack on the University of California, Berkeley for the violent shutting down of a speech by prominent anti-politically correct commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, is an unusual step to take for a President. He threatened to cut Federal funding for the university if the right of free speech for people like Milo continues to be infringed upon.
Trump is not going to toe the neoliberal, post-modern line on free speech.
–The Era of Corporatist Free Trade Is Over
One of Trump’s first moves as President was the signing of an Executive Urder killing off US participation in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Trump has had harsh words too about Bill Clinton’s signature job killing ‘free trade’ deal NAFTA. In his war of words with Mexico over the border wall, pulling out of NAFTA entirely appears to be very much on the table.
By making protectionism great again, Trump has challenged the free trade dogmas that have dominated both major US parties for decades. His commitment to American manufacturing seems to be genuine and has thus far been one of his top priorities.
–Identity Politics Is Out And Americanism Is In
Except for the Native Americans and African slaves and their descendants, who historically have been treated horribly, the United States is a multi-cultural nation of people whose ethnic origins is from other parts of the world. Because of this, the potential for ethnic tensions is always a lingering worry.
Recently, neoliberal politicians have thrown a match onto gun-powder by encouraging so-called identity politics. All this is, is violent sectarianism which serves to divide a country into factions, something which at least since the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the US has generally avoided.
Trump has made it clear that all US citizens are equal and that sub-identities are a threat to this equality and also to peace and social cohesion.
Many US politicians have implied this, but no one at such a high level of power has stated it outright. Trump has been courageous in doing so.
The post The top five ways in which Donald Trump has changed America appeared first on The Duran.
Source