“American exceptionalism” is the idea that the U.S.A. specifically is different and inherently successful, superior or special.
It is ingrained in U.S. culture and how history is taught. The U.S. is always portrayed as a winner, a civilizer and a beacon of equality. When the U.S.’s atrocities are discussed, they are said to be mistakes firmly in the past, with no lasting impacts or possibilities for them to happen again.
This attitude is dangerous to this country’s democracy and the rights of most Americans. The hope that President-elect Donald Trump’s presidency will not cause mass suffering, the hope that the U.S. is somehow different from other countries and other examples in history, prevents Americans from recognizing the danger of Trump’s policies.
To effectively fight against the policies of the president-elect, a reckoning with American exceptionalism is necessary. American exceptionalism leaves Americans both uninformed and dangerously wishful about history. We cannot hope that the U.S.’s outcome will be different from the outcomes history has shown us.
The Trump administration is promising to commit similar atrocities to what we have seen in history. Trump’s plans for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants shows similarities to the U.S.’s past forced removal of Indigenous people from their lands and WWII-era Japanese-American internment camps. His extreme scapegoating of Latino Americans and trans people reflects Hitler’s scapegoating of Jewish people and other groups. Trump has even been reported by his former chief of staff as saying Hitler “did some good things.”
History has shown the mass suffering that comes from rhetoric and policies like Trump’s. It is all laid out. Yet, American exceptionalism stops Americans from recognizing the danger our people and democracy are in. We hope we will be different because we are America. Yet, the U.S. and its people are not invincible or immune. American democracy is not invincible. Rights are never guaranteed.
Trump has used this lack of education about the U.S.’s past (and present) harm and the perverse hope that the U.S. is invincible to win voters. If voters knew and believed the danger of the candidate they voted for, would most people really vote for an end to their rights?
The President-elect’s slogan over the past eight years promises a return to greatness in America. Many voters chose him for his promises of economic relief amid inflation (which his policies like mass deportation and tariffs will only worsen); a second Trump term may seem like a step closer to an America “made great again.” He directly plays into American exceptionalism, by assuming there was an era in American history that was great for everyone and then by riling up patriotism to gain supporters. When Americans believe Trump is “making the U.S. great,” then there is no possible way bad things could happen to this country, right?
Bad things have already happened to this country, and bad things are currently happening to this country. Human suffering has always been in the fabric of the American legacy, even now. Even if you are not “one of them”- one of the individuals in the rest of the world suffering from wars caused by Western colonization; one of the individuals suffering from climate change-induced natural disasters caused by over-polluting countries; one of the individuals here in the U.S. who is already suffering from American oppression and will suffer more come January – no one is immune, even if you are an American.
American exceptionalism kills our empathy too; the idea that the U.S. is special is just another example of “us versus them.” An “us versus them” mentality has ripped the country apart politically. “Us versus them” excuses American exploitation and deadly involvement in other countries. “Us versus them” will leave this country without allies, both internationally and nationally. There’s the famous Martin Niemöller poem about Nazi Germany ending in “And there was no one left / To speak out for me.” Who will help that “us” to survive a second Trump presidency?
So, it is time to challenge this notion of American exceptionalism. It is time to learn what history has left out, to hear perspectives from the countries the U.S. has hurt, to listen to what Trump is explicitly promising to do. It is time to work together, to unite across the political divide that American exceptionalism has deepened. Hoping that it will all work out puts this country in danger. Hoping that others will do the work for us puts this country in danger.
American exceptionalism distances us from our history, the rest of the world, and our reality. It will not distance us from harm.
