Results of Trump's presidency through the eyes of Russian-speaking immigrants

January 20 ended the era of the presidency of Donald Trump - perhaps the brightest and most scandalous leader in American history. The outgoing head of the White House became the first President of the United States to be impeached twice. But voters are not very interested in political processes. We asked Russian-speaking immigrants to the United States to take stock of Trump's presidency. Their views were divided exactly to the opposite: some believe that the 45th president was the root of evil, others praise his policies.

Photo: Shutterstock

"Trump shattered illusions"

According to the American observer Igor EisenbergThe presidency of the 45th head of the White House has not done America any good.

«Worst of all, the country has been driven to its deepest division since the Civil War. The economy is in crisis, unemployment is very high, and the budget deficit has more than doubled since January 2017 - and this is not counting the money allocated by Congress to overcome the pandemic. The pandemic has become a real disaster for the most developed country in the world due to inaction and administration mistakes. We are already seeing 400 deaths, more than in World War II, and this number will only increase. The results of Trump's rule also became a significant aggravation of racial problems, the whipping up of hatred in society in general and between individual social, ethnic and racial groups in particular."He lists.

According to Igor Eisenberg, the Trump era did not bring significant changes in the life of immigrants, different from changes in the life of the country as a whole, but the whipping up of hatred in society automatically changed the situation of non-white immigrants for the worse. But the consequences of Trump's actions at the international level, according to the observer, are much clearer.

On the subject: From political strategists to rappers: Trump pardoned 73 people before leaving office

«The result of his policy was the complete loss of America's authority in the world, a significant weakening of NATO, including due to the withdrawal of troops from Germany, as well as spoiled relations with the main European allies and Canada. In short, it will take years to overcome what Trump and Trumpism have plunged the country into. And this overcoming will be very difficult", Igor Aizenberg summed up.

The Rock County, Wisconsin deputy from the Democratic Party largely agrees with his opinion. Yuri Rashkin.

«The main result of the Trump presidency is getting rid of illusions. He showed us the true face of the Republican Party, showing that these people are not interested in anything other than power and the desire to maintain it. On the other hand, our country turned out to be stronger than we expected. It seems to me that America has matured by surviving Trump. Yes, the situation was not what we thought. Trump showed us how partisan we can be; showed that lies have consequences, which, perhaps, will keep future politicians from lying. On the other hand, he showed that a bad president can do terrible things and is very difficult to stop him while in the White House. I believe that in the future we will see changes that may limit the power of the president or expand the powers of Congress.", - says Yuri.

The Democratic MP admits that a fractured American society will still have to work together.

«We were elected President Joe BidenAnd not Bernie Sanders, precisely because he is a centrist, and is able to unite Democrats and Conservatives. On the other hand, we saw that private companies sometimes have no less power than the government and are able to protect us. I mean not only Twitter, but, for example, the National Basketball Association, which closed the season due to the pandemic, thus showing social responsibility. It turned out that we have strong private companies and a weak state", - noted Yuri Rashkin.

Photo from the personal archive of Yuri Rashkin

Nonetheless, the MP acknowledges some of the positive foreign policy aspects of Trump's rule.

«In particular, these are actions related to the pacification of the conflict in the Middle East in relations between Israel and the Arab countries. There, Trump also managed to shatter pre-existing illusions - for example, that dialogue with Israel is allegedly impossible until the Palestinian question is resolved. But it turned out that this is not necessary at all. However, in terms of politics in the "Russian direction", Trump was a real threat to national security, and we do not yet fully know the extent of the damage that he caused. And finally, against the background of his policy on the pandemic, we realized that we are all mortal, and in a sense, this also has a sobering effect.", - concluded Yuri Rashkin.

Danger of dehumanization

San Francisco resident Jana Ratman takes a more moderate view of the Trump era.

«Every president makes mistakes, and remember that Trump came to power completely inexperienced in politics. Personally, I did not vote for him in 2016, and was initially afraid of the most dire consequences of his presidency, including the war. There really was such a risk, and the salvation from it, in my opinion, was the approval for the post of US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo... I can't imagine how he could, on the one hand, work well with an extravagant politician like Trump, and on the other hand, achieve real diplomatic success. I believe that the results achieved in the Middle East and elsewhere, especially with regard to Israel, are the merit of Pompeo, not Trump.", - she thinks.

Another result of Trump's presidency, Ian considers the tragically deep split in American society, for which, in her opinion, lies not only with the head of the White House.

«Constant attacks on the American president in the media with personalization offend not only him, but also the millions of people who voted for him. If people constantly see that they are not heard and are insulted, they become radicalized. It happened before my eyes: in the press, in schools, in work collectives. Now, if you admit at school that you support Trump, you can face bullying and instantly lose all your friends. At the same time, I can perfectly understand people who, like me, are annoyed by Trump's behavior on a personal level. But I can't understand why professionals, media editors or school principals do not control their emotions in relation to others. As a result, we have not just a split in society, but a situation where some of the people can be ignored and hounded just because their leader causes negative feelings. They began to be perceived as enemies", - emphasizes Yana.

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According to Yana Ratman, for the first time there was a dehumanization of political opponents, when political views began to be perceived as a moral characteristic.

«As a result, if you voted for Trump, you are considered an immoral person, although you could vote for him not because you like him, but only because you are impressed by some aspects of his politics. However, you can no longer openly admit it, because you were simply dehumanized. Over the past year, this trend has only worsened, as people of conservative views very painfully perceived the abuse of the flag, monuments and other American symbols. People felt that they had nothing to lose because public opinion mixed with dirt not only them, but their values ​​and ideals.", - thinks Yana.

Former Washington GOP nominee is developing similar thoughts Anton Sakharov.

«It seems to me that the Trump effect over the past four years has completely revealed all the cards and showed what is really happening in the United States. First, we finally saw that the United States is not so free and fair country. We saw that when it suits them, the authorities turn a blind eye to crimes, riots and lawlessness - and when they need it, on the contrary, they find ways to prohibit, imprison or punish something. In this sense, America is no longer the country it was 20-30 years ago.“- he believes.

At the same time, the former politician believes that the Republican Party is not too different from the Democrats, and both are "sides of the same coin."

«Third, Trump has accelerated the one-party movement in the United States. Over the past four years, we have seen that people of conservative views cannot openly speak their minds either at work (they are simply fired for this) or at home (neighbors can steal a poster from your site or simply insult you). Now, the authorities are already openly saying that they are going to draw up lists of everyone who supported Trump, sent him money, or simply went to rallies. A very dark cloud is approaching us - in fact, 75 million people become outcasts and enemies who are hunted."- Anton Sakharov fears.

At the same time, Anton is convinced that the division of society has always existed, but only under Trump did it come to the surface.

«When it comes to the plight of immigrants, Trump had little impact. The attractiveness of the United States fell before him. The years have already passed when one person, working, could easily support the whole family and achieve the American dream. Now, even in IT, it is more and more difficult to achieve this every year. Medicine, education and quality of life began to fall long before Trump“- he believes.

Sacramento resident Vitaly Prokopchuk sees both good and bad sides in the Trump presidency.

«One of Trump's merit is that he showed by his example: a man, although rich, but not a career politician, was able to achieve such a high position. This gave the common people a certain amount of hope. Secondly, under him, before the pandemic, there was real economic growth. His third, and perhaps most important, achievement is that Trump is the only president in the last 40 years who has not dragged us into any war. On the contrary, he even ended some kind of wars", - said Vitaly.

Photo: Shutterstock

At the same time, Vitaly Prokopchuk also notes the serious shortcomings of the outgoing president.

«Trump has made many promises about how he is going to "drain the swamp." But despite the fact that in the first two years he had a complete carte blanche at the level of Congress, not a single corrupt politician was behind bars. This Trump has disappointed many people. The narcissistic traits of the president, including in politics, did not hide from many voters. He took many actions exclusively for himself. Neglecting the interests of the party, Trump created his own movement, which in fact does not represent a real political force.", - concluded Vitaly.

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