More than 80 million Americans helped the country dodge the bullet of a potential second Trump term, but has one Trump presidency been enough of a lesson for the American people?
An editorial published by USA Today stresses the importance of remaining vigilant even during the post-Trump era. He warned that the American people must never lose sight of their responsibility to learn how Trump's behavior was allowed for an entire four years. There should also be accountability for the administrative officials who waged war on America's democracy.
The favorable outcome of the election does not relieve us from the obligation to try to determine how we allowed the outrageousness of the past four years to take place — how we let our basic institutions of government and society itself to be shaken to a frightful degree. Public accountability, the legislative power of the purse, judicial independence, the United States Department of Justice's commitment to the law, a respect for a free press, three equal independent branches of government — all being challenged by an administration bent on creating chaos throwing aside democratic norms.
He also noted how Trump's influence should ultimately be viewed as a worst-case scenario in which Americans remember that they were taken to "the very edge of the precipice" and "spent four years on that path should be a source of concern." More disturbing, the fact that more than 70 million Americans actually did support Trump signals that the country is not out of the woods yet.
With the possibility of a looming 2024 presidential run for Trump, it is imperative that Americans heed the warnings that came with Trump's presidency to avoid repeating history in the very near future. The author concluded with an explanation to support his warning:
"The basic need for structure and certainty in people's lives during rapidly changing, tumultuous times is being satisfied for some by providing simple answers to complicated questions and plausible-sounding solutions for seemingly intractable problems," he said. Never mind that the answers and solutions Donald Trump provided, though easily understood and uncomplicated, are wrong."