Trump Exposed What America Always Was

[PunkinPi]

Jan 7, 2026
Every day I hear people say “this isn’t who we are.”
Yes it is. It always has been.

White Americans have ignored racism for centuries because it benefited us. We looked away while Black people, women, immigrants, Asians, and non-white communities suffered — because their pain didn’t disrupt our comfort.

We refuse to general strike.
We refuse to stop spending.
We refuse to confront friends and family.
We refuse to post, organize, or be uncomfortable.

That silence is why nothing changes.

Donald Trump is not the cause — he’s the symptom. Removing him doesn’t cure a nation addicted to white comfort, white grievance, and selective morality.

Progress requires sacrifice. Discomfort. Loss of convenience.
If we’re unwilling to do that, then stop pretending we want change.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

1. Powerful... but not NEARLY the whole story

Yes, all the facts are there and acknowledged, but the SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE NOT being looked at, is the constant, stirred waves of GOODNESS and CHARITY and SACRIFICE that wells up, that IS THERE as an undercurrent pushing against the evil.... as Abraham Lincoln acknowledged, "the better angels or our nature". It's always been there and still is.

[Keepthesoulalive]

8. Not for everyone.

America needs to stop believing in feel good myths. What is happening now is her truth.

[Clouds Passing]

12. Truth has many roads. Truth is many of us are good people. Many are exhausted from overstimulation.

The vast majority of us want to live in peace, health, prosperity and truth.

There are a minority who are in denial of the deep jealousy, envy and hatred of and within themselves that they seek to harm others.

[Keepthesoulalive]

13. Sorry

I have been on the receiving end of Americas bull, most Americans care only about their own egos and believing others are less than. We have fought proxy wars in poor countries, stolen other countries resources and condemned certain Americans to live in poverty and fear all the while talking about democracy. Well as one person said many years ago the chickens have come home to roost.

[Clouds Passing]

15. Don't be sorry. The onslaught of bad gets exhausting and depressing.

Don’t give in to hopelessness. Find a way to stay out of it.

[OddMom20]

2. The last line is what stuck with me...

“ If we’re unwilling to do that, then stop pretending we want change.”. I feel that is our problem now, likely has been the problem for ages, and will likely be a problem going forward; everyone wants change, but doing the work to make change happen is HARD. I get it - but, how much longer can we all bitch and moan and not DO anything?

[OldBaldy1701E]

3. They don't want things to change as badly as they might be saying that they do.

IT is not just the work.

It is decades of programming to believe that the system is okay as it is. (Mainly because the people doing the programming are 'in power' and would rather destroy it all than change one thing about it. It is the belief that this capitalistic hell hole we have created is a 'good thing'.

It is, but only for those same people that I mentioned. They do not want anything to change. So, they will babble crap all the live long day, but in the end, they will vote against anything that will endanger their 'position'.

(By the way... that dream that you might make it up to their level one day? HAHAHAHAHA... don't kind yourself.)

[NJCher]

6. Phrasing

You gotta be kidding me. “Make it up to their level.“ ??

Make it down to their level would be a little more like it. I feel sorry for people who think that all there is in life is money.

[BattleRow]

11. Revolutions are fought by those whose ribs are easily counted.

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[richdj25]

5. As a 67 year old black man......

I strongly concur that America has never really changed. For those who have never delt with what we've gone through, it was a mindset of being removed from such abuse. What's going on in Minnesota is part of the African American experience in this country, for many.....many a generation.

[GiqueCee]

7. The man spoke...

... the absolute, indelible truth.
I've had to deal with the weakness of character that is "White Privilege" – BLATANT RACISM – in my own family, but it's like talking to a single brick in a wall of denial; it's impossible to penetrate. I've just had to excise them from my life altogether.
I am a 78-year-old white man with bad knees and a worse back, and it's hard to know where to begin fighting this despicable mindset. Grand gestures only satisfy our own egos, so all I can do is live my life in accordance with my principles as best I can, and do good whenever I can.
In our final conversation on the subject, my elder stepson – I've been his stepfather for 39 years – asked me what I'd do when the race war they so fervently desire begins. I told him that I'd have a Black man on my right, a Black man on my left, and one of his asshole buddies in my crosshairs. He knows I'm an expert marksman. We haven't spoken since, and I doubt we ever will.
His mother is just as disgusted with him as I am.

[Escape]

9. Kurt Anderson, in his book, "Fantasyland"....

provides an entertaining and frightening look at about 500 years of American history. We sometimes forget the long period before the "Founding Fathers" came on the scene.

Our history is a wild misadventure of religious fanaticism, hucksterism, greed, conspiracy theories, racism and illusion. That's who our forefathers were. Trump, encompassing all of those traits and ideals, is the current culmination of our inevitable destiny.

Fortunately, there has always been a fair representation of "good guys", like the current Democratic Party, in place, to try to fight the abuse, unfairness and insanity of the "bad guys".

I don't know whether to feel comforted, or disappointed by Anderson's book but it serves as a great education in an American history not taught in the classrooms..

[democrank]

10. K & R

[dlk]

14. America has never fully addressed its predatory and racist history

There are many contributing factors to the building of America. However, we have generally ignored the large roles genocide and slavery played.

Until we honestly address America’s true past and stop sweeping it under the rug, we can never fully heal, and cannot move forward in any lasting way.

There needs to be honest reconciliation. Otherwise, the viscousness and ugliness of our past will continue erupt, over and over again, as we are seeing today, with rights being stripped away, instead of expanding and being shared.

There is much work to be done.