“The forgotten American will be forgotten no longer.” – President Donald Trump, Inaugural Address
By Brett Kimball
Growing up in a family which spanned all sides of the political and ideological spectrum, I was exposed to plenty of different opinions and criticisms of both sides. So I never learned to “hate” one side or another. I wasn’t sure what I believed or frankly whether I cared enough to believe deeply in either side, because it seemed no matter who won, the people didn’t have much control. Politics was just a highly contentious subject of no real relevance to me, whose sole purpose seemed to be causing problems during Thanksgiving dinner.
That all changed when I saw Donald Trump enter the playing field.
He was rough around the edges, a little brash at times, but clearly lacking the politician’s filter which had made others before and around him seem so fake and inaccessible to people like myself. But as I watched him speak about his plans for a wall and criticize the D.C. establishment which he was attempting to infiltrate, his ideas started making sense to me. He spoke as if he were one of those normal people who had spent the last eight years and likely more, becoming disheartened with the current political atmosphere, full of empty suits and emptier promises, only he had the money and drive to do something about it.
So when he won against Hillary Clinton in 2016 to the shock of almost everyone, I was elated. I had only become more interested and invested over the months of campaigning and debates that led up to that day, and couldn’t wait to see what he would do once he entered office. I had never really realized that what was missing from politics was a man who represented the people the establishment had cast aside. Trump represented a population I had barely known existed during the Obama years and certainly hadn’t known I was a part of. We are the people who hold conservative beliefs and respect traditional American values. We are the forgotten Americans. Donald Trump gave us a voice, and a powerful one at that.
Watching Trump’s inaugural address, I could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride and happiness that I had the privilege to call myself an American. This was the first time I ever remembered feeling this sense of pride and patriotism towards my country on a deep and meaningful level. I had never heard someone talk about our country the way he did. It was clear to me that we had just elected a fighter who loved this country, and I knew we were in for a fantastic four years ahead.
I was shocked at the amount of hate spewed at one man. But I tried to ignore it as I watched President Trump make good on his promises, even against overwhelming odds and unending slander from all flanks. I watched the media’s lies crumbled under the weight of Trump’s success.
His America-first agenda was one which, before the election, I had not realized was so necessary, but had become a pathway to success for our country like nothing I’d ever seen. He took us out of useless international agreements like the Paris Climate Accords, the Iran nuclear deal and organizations such as the World Health Organization, saving American taxpayers millions of dollars in the process. He also renegotiated NAFTA which was something long promised but undelivered on by other politicians.
Trump made historic and unprecedented leaps in the area of foreign policy, not only as the first president since 1980 not to start a new war, but also as the first U.S. president to enter and engage in peace talks with North Korea. This had never been done before and it was done by the man who the media had told us would have us at war on day one. He became the first to act on another longtime campaign promise of those before him when he officially recognized Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel by moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This made Trump the most pro-Israel president in history, and directly led to his brokering of a slew of historic peace deals between Israel, the UAE, Sudan, Morocco, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia with more expected to follow. The establishment of the Abraham Accords is the closest the world has come to seeing peace in the Middle East and it built on the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty and the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty.
Trump’s America-First policies also resulted in the greatest economy we’ve ever seen, with unemployment reaching historic lows across all demographics of American workers. He brought the jobs back just like he said he would. And with the construction of over four hundred miles of new wall on the southern border coupled with the enforcement and tightening up of border security and immigration laws, President Trump made sure that American citizens got to reap the benefits of our nation’s success. He strengthened our military by pulling troops out of needless conflicts overseas, obliterated the ISIS caliphate in his first year, and orchestrated the take down of terrorist leaders Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi as well as Qasem Soleimani, making the world a safer place. Under Trump, the United States also became fully energy-independent, and we were prospering as a nation like never before.
However it wasn’t just his legislative achievements which defined his presidency. Trump was the first Republican since Reagan to succeed in fighting the culture war. After years of the establishment Right focusing only on policy while the Left took over our cultural institutions, Trump said enough is enough. He not only reinvigorated the dying GOP, but he reignited the spark of patriotism and love of country, specifically young people like myself who had never been shown what great American success could actually look like. All of a sudden conservative movements like Turning Point USA were popping up on college campuses as more and more young people felt inspired to join in the fight with their great president. Donald Trump brought back a sense of national pride in the minds of America’s youth, an achievement which will prove invaluable in the years to come as conservatives continue the fight without him.
I was not able to vote in the 2016 election but I couldn’t wait to cast my first vote in a national election for my president in 2020. I couldn’t have been prouder to do so. And even though this election didn’t work out in our favor and we forgotten Americans lost our great fighter in the White House, I am not looking to the future with sadness over what could have been, but rather with hope and pride in what we were able to do as a movement in four short years.
I would like to thank President Trump for opening my eyes and those of millions of other Americans to all that can be achieved through hard work, love of country & fellow man, and unity over a common cause. I have never been prouder to be an American and the weight of that privilege which we all share is no longer lost on me. He showed many of us younger conservatives for the first time that we can have a seat at the table and that we aren’t just “deplorables” or “bitter clingers.” He reminded us of our founding principles and ideals and why they should be important to us. He made America strong again, wealthy again, prosperous and proud again, and yes; Donald J. Trump made America great again.
Now, forgotten Americans no longer, louder and prouder than ever, we are prepared to continue that work and keep this country great for generations to come.
President Trump, thank you for bringing back America!
Brett Kimball is a college student and conservative political activist from Gaithersburg, MD.
