Hello and welcome to the thirteenth post of Talking Points! Since his entry to the political arena in 2015, President Trump has utilized the slogan “Make America Great Again”, adapting it into multiple variations. Although not necessarily the originator of the phrase, that could be seen as President Reagan, who used the phrase, “Let’s Make America Great Again” , as part of his 1980 Presidential Campaign, President Trump has popularized it. I would argue it represents the idea that America is in decline, and needs to be restored its rightful, great position, a major theme of his campaign. Although he has never stated as to when exactly he wants to restore America to, considering that he was born in 1946, his social conservatism, and the general nostalgia many older white Americans have for the era, I would interpret it to be the period from the late 1940s to the mid 1970s, in particular the 1950s.

At the end of World War Two, much of Europe and Asia were destroyed, having experienced massive damage during the war. In addition, the Soviet Union closed itself off economically from the West, doing little trade. However, the United States, whose industry supported both its own war effort and the war efforts of the Allies, was largely untouched from this kind of damage. Thus, American industry benefited greatly, as it became a source of consumer goods for both Western Europe and East Asia. Fear of a war with the Soviet Union also proved a boon to the American economy, as it justified a high degree of military spending, both for the United States itself, and its European allies, who arguably had more to fear from such a conflict. However, such growth was not confined to the United States.

The postwar economic boom was a worldwide one, with Japan, West Germany, Austria, South Korea, France, and Italy, all experiencing periods of rapid economic growth. Thus, the advantage in industry that the United States had, was finite. By 1973, however, this growth had stopped. The 1973 to 1975 recession, which was worldwide, marked the end to this period of continuous economic growth. The recession was complicated further because it involved stagflation, an unusual economic condition marked by high inflation, high unemployment, and low growth, which was unusual because high inflation should involve low unemployment, and low inflation should involve high unemployment. In fact, this condition meant that increased government spending, which had been how economies were stimulated for decades, was unable to aid the economy.

By 1979, consumer sentiment had fallen, with President Carter speaking of a crisis of confidence in the United States. Such sentiment paved the way for the landslide elections of President Reagan, like in 1980, where he won 44 out of 50 states, and 1984, where he won 49 out of 50 states. I would attribute this electoral success to his hopeful message paired with exceptional charisma from his time as an actor, the mobilization of the Christian in support of the Republican party, and the heavy economic growth the United States experienced during this decade. However, despite economic growth, the United States experienced deindustrialization, with the movement of manufacturing jobs overseas, paving the way for the transition of the United States from an industrial-based economy to a service-based economy.

It is his opposition to this deindustrialization which President Trump has formulated his success on. While the overall economy grew throughout the 1980s and 1990s, as it transitioned from a industrial base to a service base, this growth was not experienced equally. With free trade and globalization, the question of where to manufacture a product largely becomes a matter of labor costs, as labor is a major expense for manufacturers. Considering the size of the American economy, American factory workers need to be paid more than overseas workers, in less developed countries. In addition, the rapid development of technology has limited the need for labor, allowing those businesses who manufacture in the United States, to do so with an automated workforce, not a human one.

The loss of factory jobs has hit the American midwest particularly hard, with many white midwesterners voting for President Trump due to to his promise to restore these jobs, and his attacks on those he views as responsible for their loss. In addition to the economic livelihood these jobs provided, I think they supported the psychological wellbeing of the country. Manufactured goods represent tangible pieces of Americana, in ways that services do not. When seeking to tout their accomplishments, politicians will frequently talk about and draw attention to factories, not office buildings. The movement of finished Ford cars, from an assembly line onto American streets, as one might see in such a political ad, is demonstrative not just of the manufacturing of the cars themselves, but American dominance in industry, which is even more psychologically important, considering how important the car is to American culture.

Indeed, American cars are a major symbol of the 1950s, representing freedom, mobility, and of course, American manufacturing. However, not all Americans were beneficiaries of the car. For example, black drivers during this period were often subject to harassment, discrimination, and a lower standard of facilities, throughout the United States. In fact, the Green-Book, a guide book for Black American drivers, was created to aid said drivers in avoiding this discrimination. This is the primary problem with nostalgia for the 1950s, while it recognizes the prosperity that white men experienced during this period, it fails to consider how limited these benefits were for other Americans. For example, while white men often had good paying jobs, their wives were largely forced to stay home, denied the opportunity to take part in this period of economic growth. Women were also unable to access financial services, like bank accounts and loans, without a male co-signer. It was this discrimination against minorities and women, which triggered the Civil Rights and Second-Wave Feminist Movements, of the 1960s.

Currently in the United States, technology is more advanced, people live longer, people have access to more goods, and there is a greater variety of food accessible for cheaper, than at any point in the 1950s. By most objective measures, Americans live better lives now than they did in the 1950s, or really at any point in American history. And yet, there is an increasing unease about the quality of life in the United States, it feels like America is doing worse than it should be. The question is then, why? Why does a disconnect exist between objective numbers and subjective perception? The answer, I think, is that most people do not base their views of reality on objective facts, but on their subjective interpretation of reality, influenced by their own biases. Those who have been negatively impacted by deindustrialization, such as President Trump’s midwestern base, are likely to perceive the 1950s as superior to now, precisely because of the greater industry it had.

This is why I think “Make America Great Again” is so problematic as a slogan. It connects American greatness to the material prosperity that white Americans benefited from, failing to consider that America failed to provide equal prosperity to other Americans. It also fails to recognize that such prosperity was a fluke, caused by very specific global economic conditions, certainly not the norm. Thus, there could be a very dark implication, that if America was great with this discrimination, and worse without it, then an argument could be made that this discrimination is what helped make America great. While I am unsure if President Trump believes this or not, I do not think he has considered that this could be one implication of the slogan. Fundamentally, I would say that America is as greater, due to the lower level of discrimination and bigotry that exists now, and that the belief otherwise fails to consider how much Americans have been harmed by discrimination.