In the last few weeks Donald Trump has shown himself willing to almost offhandedly ignore 200 years of the world's diplomatic history and decades of his own nation's progressive cultural development. This display of historical ignorance and spontaneous stupidity reminds one of Edmund Burke's warning against men with "intemperate minds."
It has also drawn ever more sharply the cultural divide now facing the United States. Do Americans really want a return to the racism signified not only by the Klan and its ilk, but also by the ongoing upsurge in police violence against African-Americans? Do Americans really want a reaffirmation of a monopolistic white culture that, through Trump's immigration policy, would destroy the historical contribution of numerous ethnic groups in making a progressive multicultural society?
Most Americans, if pressed to take a side, would probably stand against the real Donald Trump revealed by these recent defining moments. However, in order for them to effectively take that stand, there needs to be a political alternative -- an institutional choice that allows for the political defeat of the rightwing radicals. When we look around for that alternative, all we find is a dysfunctional Democratic Party, which, under its present leadership, has proven incapable of checking the reactionary trend besetting the nation.
So, the U.S. is in both political and cultural limbo. Its citizens are left asking if Donald Trump's defining moments will also define their own future.
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