Perhaps the starkest uncertainty of the idea of the phrase ‘Make America Great Again’ is the end goal that the media and politicians have in using this idea. Writers may merely be aiming to sell bait stories, and politicians may only want to get votes, yet there seems to be some other grand purpose behind such a high-and-mighty phrase. To ‘make America great again’ sounds like an end that politicians want Americans to work toward, and it may not be too unconventional because fear has caused Americans to accomplish feats in the past. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik, starting the space race and inciting fear among Americans. Because of Sputnik, the people of the US believed they were behind in technology, and
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As mentioned earlier, the quest for ‘greatness’ with an unclear definition has led to dangerous comparisons with previous time periods. The ‘greatness’ standard leads to other false comparisons. In his campaign, Donald Trump often evokes a time when America was the uncontested superpower of the world, and laments the fact that it no longer appears to be so. The media plays into this lost-status feeling with statements like “10 Ways America Is Losing Its Superpower Status to China” (Williams). Again, the numbers seem to tell it all. China’s current GDP growth is 6.9 percent, about three times as high as the United States’. Yet, just like the United States did, China is experiencing rapid growth as it industrializes. Americans seem to forget that the standard of living in the United States is far higher than that of China. The United States has 221 times as many secure internet servers per one million people than China does. The people of the United States are more likely to have enough food, electricity, less likely to die at birth or of HIV and more likely to live to an old age. Americans already have a GDP per capita of over 55,000 dollars, compared to China’s 7,000 dollars yearly (United States…). China’s growth is largely in effort to attain a quality of life similar to that in the United States. America simply does not …show more content…
The idea that the media has ‘created’ Donald Trump may be more real than anyone could have predicted. Not only has the media brought attention to him in this campaign, it has tilled the soil for decades for the growth of a candidate of his type (Shafer). The media has been emphasizing negative statistics and negative trends for over thirty years. Americans have been told they are “25th in mathematics…12th in college graduation rate… and 37th in infant mortality” (Gerson). Americans have been told that China will become the world’s dominant country, that America’s best years are gone, and that it will suffer a fall similar to that of the Roman Empire. Politicians have been unable to deliver their impossible promises to reverse these expectations (Dowd). With the mainstream politician seemingly unable to do anything about the problems, and Americans clueless as to what their struggles mean or how they can be solved, an unconventional candidate such as Donald Trump had the perfect opportunity for coming into prominence. Donald Trump has been able to take advantage of the unclear idea of American ‘greatness’ to the point where he can do anything with it, from claiming
As mentioned earlier, the quest for ‘greatness’ with an unclear definition has led to dangerous comparisons with previous time periods. The ‘greatness’ standard leads to other false comparisons. In his campaign, Donald Trump often evokes a time when America was the uncontested superpower of the world, and laments the fact that it no longer appears to be so. The media plays into this lost-status feeling with statements like “10 Ways America Is Losing Its Superpower Status to China” (Williams). Again, the numbers seem to tell it all. China’s current GDP growth is 6.9 percent, about three times as high as the United States’. Yet, just like the United States did, China is experiencing rapid growth as it industrializes. Americans seem to forget that the standard of living in the United States is far higher than that of China. The United States has 221 times as many secure internet servers per one million people than China does. The people of the United States are more likely to have enough food, electricity, less likely to die at birth or of HIV and more likely to live to an old age. Americans already have a GDP per capita of over 55,000 dollars, compared to China’s 7,000 dollars yearly (United States…). China’s growth is largely in effort to attain a quality of life similar to that in the United States. America simply does not …show more content…
The idea that the media has ‘created’ Donald Trump may be more real than anyone could have predicted. Not only has the media brought attention to him in this campaign, it has tilled the soil for decades for the growth of a candidate of his type (Shafer). The media has been emphasizing negative statistics and negative trends for over thirty years. Americans have been told they are “25th in mathematics…12th in college graduation rate… and 37th in infant mortality” (Gerson). Americans have been told that China will become the world’s dominant country, that America’s best years are gone, and that it will suffer a fall similar to that of the Roman Empire. Politicians have been unable to deliver their impossible promises to reverse these expectations (Dowd). With the mainstream politician seemingly unable to do anything about the problems, and Americans clueless as to what their struggles mean or how they can be solved, an unconventional candidate such as Donald Trump had the perfect opportunity for coming into prominence. Donald Trump has been able to take advantage of the unclear idea of American ‘greatness’ to the point where he can do anything with it, from claiming