Who is America's most important president? Unsurprisingly, the liberal media ranked Donald Trump close to the bottom. In fact, Trump arguably competes for the top slot. The reason for this is that his presidency was foundationally concerned with the nature of America itself, and what the America of the future will be like. Will America continue to be America, or will it morph into something very different, into a liberal coalition of weird minority groups that have no love of American history and the conventional idea of what it is to be an American, and no physical resemblance to the Americans of old.
Trump brought to light the decisive issue of our times – how to define America. Should a nation be defined by inclusion, as liberals want, or by exclusion, as conservatives desire.
When you strip back all of the squabbles between the Democrats and the Republicans, the liberals and the conservatives, you arrive at one theme, endlessly repeated: should the "Other" be regarded as a friend we haven't met yet, as someone we need to embrace as rapidly, warmly and fully as possible (as the liberals would have it), or as an enemy we have luckily avoided thus far, as someone we actively need to shut out, as rapidly, coldly and comprehensively as possible (as the conservatives would have it). Is the Other to be included or excluded? It's that simple. Or that complex. People who think this question has an easy answer are deluded.
To welcome or not to welcome the Other comes down to where a person stands on the subject of sameness versus difference. Is difference always an enemy, a threat, and sameness always non-threatening, a friend? Or is difference the means by which we make progress and sameness something regressive?
So, here we all here. Whither America? Will America look anything like itself a hundred years from now? Or will it seem like a different country, a country unrecognizable to conservatives? It's all to play for. Who will win the Clusion Wars? To include or to exclude, that is the definitive question of our times.
