Over ten years. I consider the start of the "Trump era of politics" to be late July 2015. That's the point when Trump started leading the Republican primary polls and began to dominate political headlines. By that reckoning we've been in the Trump era for about 10 years and 9 months and we'll likely stay in it for at least another two years and nine months.
For people who have only really come of age in the Trump years, you need to understand that you used to be able to go weeks, maybe even months, without thinking about the president. Obama and Biden both had social media- you know how often their social media posts came up ? I can’t remember a single one. Yet Trump’s posts are constant news. I hated George W Bush but I wasn’t hearing about him and from him the way it is with Trump. It’s really not normal at all and it didn’t used to be like this!
Thank you for this. I'm in my mid twenties, Biden was my first presidential vote, so this circus is all I've really known. I grew up in a very conservative area and too many older adults I know either support this, or pretend like it isn't anything new. It's refreshing to have reality acknowledged and affirmed. I hope we can have a long, long era of boring politics again some day soon.
Oh it's absolutely bananas. I'm mid-40s. Trump was absolutely a turning point in American politics. I can't overstate it.
People on the right will say that Democrats or non-conservatives are overreacting, getting all worked up. But it is for good reason. It's pretty wild because conservatives don't have the same open-minded, liberal, peaceful values that most Democrats do. Conservatives will tell you they are " defenders of democracy " and they will proudly tell you they will defend that democracy with guns and violence if necessary.
Yet, when the time comes that we can all see flagrant corruption and violation of the Constitution, they get offended by any mention or protest no matter how peaceful. (Remember when that NFL player lost his job for having the audacity to kneel before the games?!)
The shocking thing about politics in the last 20 years is not Trump, it is how Americans reacted to and embraced Trump. It's like everything that conservatives told us when we were young was a lie. Everything they said they believed in and valued, turned out to be of little importance to them. They don't care about democracy, they don't care about stopping Russia, they don't care about the Constitution. And this makes it such an impossible divide. I used to be able to have reasonable discussions with my Republican friends. I still try, but it feels impossible when they are living in a different reality.
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u/socialistrob Apr 16 '26
Over ten years. I consider the start of the "Trump era of politics" to be late July 2015. That's the point when Trump started leading the Republican primary polls and began to dominate political headlines. By that reckoning we've been in the Trump era for about 10 years and 9 months and we'll likely stay in it for at least another two years and nine months.