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10/30/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/30/2024 14:02

Student POV: Why I’m Voting for Donald Trump

Student POV: Why I'm Voting for Donald Trump

Photo via AP/Steve Helber

Student POV: Why I'm Voting for Donald Trump

"We don't need a normal president…We need a president who is a symbol for something much deeper"

October 30, 2024
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A tale of two campaigns: Donald Trump runs on a deeply negative vision of America, filling his speeches with martial and apocalyptic language, falsely claiming Haitian immigrants are "eating the cats and dogs" and predicting "the end of our country" if he doesn't win. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris campaigns on joy, and optimism, as she tries to convince Americans that it's time to move on from the bitter division and tribalism that has characterized American politics ever since Trump came down the escalator at Trump Tower in 2015 to first announce he was running for president.

Kamala tells us that we have the opportunity to finally rid ourselves of the long and arduous Trump years, rid ourselves of the impeachments, the riots, the assault on the Capitol, and finally move on to something new. Elect Kamala, and we can finally exorcize ourselves of the memory of 2016. We can reassure ourselves that we aren't so fallen that we would relect a man as flawed and narcissistic as Donald Trump. America would be brought back to its moderate consensus. It's certainly a tempting promise, and millions of Americans will cast their votes for it on November 5.

The nation is in precipitous decline. Our borders are overrun by millions of illegal immigrants. Our citizens are increasingly obese, addicted to drugs, and depressed. Raving homeless people frequently accost us on the street. You walk into a Walgreens in a major city and the toothpaste is under lock and key.

These are all external signs of the internal rot that has corrupted the nation's soul. According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, Americans now value money more than patriotism, having kids, or being involved in their community. Without any faith in each other or a transcendent destiny, we now drive all our attention to personal gain.

We can no longer produce any original art. A staggering 80 percent of our most popular movies are sequels, spinoffs, or remakes, up from 16 percent in 1981. The art we do produce is self-referential and navel-gazing, betraying how afraid we are of saying something real about our future.

The only form of art we still perform well is irony, because irony is the mark of those who believe in nothing and fear everything.

In similar times of great trouble and strife, people used to be able to turn to religion, but that has been taken from them too. God has been pushed out of public life and popular culture, and to make matters worse, there's nothing to replace him. Without their society giving them a coherent vision of pious religiosity or militant atheism, Americans have been asked to DIY their own faith. This has led to a directionless public grasping at straws, mixing and matching between different faith traditions, trying in vain to replicate the confident belief of their ancestors. Now more than ever, Americans are like the writers of the Psalms, awash in an unfamiliar sea of humanity, yearning for a God they can't see, feel, or understand.

While these problems may be partially endemic to modernity, they are exacerbated by Kamala Harris and the ideals of the liberal elite that back her.

Liberal ideals of tolerance, diversity, and individualism have been stretched so far that we now have next to nothing in common. Lacking a shared identity, we grow distant from one another and wallow in a confused postmodern existence, unsure if we can believe in anything.

On its face, our situation seems hopeless. What policies could a president ever implement that would solve problems as deep-seated and nebulous as declines in culture, religion, and morality?

But that's exactly why we don't need a normal president, a mere administrator. We need a president who is a symbol for something much deeper. A president who would act as a talisman for the nation.

Donald Trump's unique qualities enable him, and him alone, to do just that. Trump's ardent patriotism, cult following, and his stubborn assertion of "America First" provide a roadmap for us to rediscover our lost American pride. Using Trump and the MAGA movement as a vessel, we can rembrace our past while forging a new future.

We can rebuild a grand narrative of who we are and what we're here to do. It won't be easy, and it won't happen overnight. It's not a problem that will be solved by a single election. But once Americans say yes to the idea that we are a great people with a unique destiny, the journey will begin.

And once it begins, who's to say where it will end? We could colonize space, build beautiful cities, and create awe-inspiring art that will reverberate for thousands of years. But first, we must dare to dream beyond our liberal consensus. We must dare to elect Donald Trump.

Colin Sharpe (CAS'28) can be reached at [email protected].

"POV" is anopinion page that provides timely commentaries from students, faculty, and staff on a variety of issues: on-campus, local, state, national, or international. Anyone interested in submitting a piece, which should be about 700 words long, should contact [email protected]. BU Today reserves the right to reject or edit submissions. The views expressed are solely those of the author and are not intended to represent the views of Boston University.

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