Back in America

Twenty-four years ago, I was living in Washington D.C. while studying at the University of Maryland. I came back to America in August of 2016, this time with my family. It was just a few months before Trump's election. As I settled in the US and tried to understand why Trump got elected, I noticed how much the country had changed. I believe that two major crises have determined the shape of what the country is today: the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the subprime economic crisis in 2008. Then came Trump. A man loved by half the country for being anti-elite, playing tough, and speaking his mind and hated by the other half for pretty much the same reasons. Trump has polarized America and the world at large, pushing what we thought was politically possible. Lies and mediocrity became the new normal. For a year now, with this podcast, Back in America, I have been exploring and questioning America's culture, values, and identity. In every episode, I ask my guests “What is America?”. Quite often, they say that America is a story, an idea in the making. By many standards, the 2020 election is historical and will once again help define what America is. The pandemic, the foreign interferences, the mistrust in the democratic voting process, and now the legal attacks against Biden's victory.  I have asked Americans what they thought of the outcome of the election. Here they are:  Jake Hoffman, the president of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans.   Mark Charles, an independent candidate who ran in the 2020 Presidential Election who holds dual citizenship to the United States and the Navajo Nation. https://twitter.com/wirelesshogan Previous episode https://pod.fo/e/a048d and https://pod.fo/e/a048e   Richard Heinberg, a Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, and one of the world’s foremost advocates for a shift away from our current reliance on fossil fuels. https://twitter.com/richardheinberg Live Interview   David Treibs, a Constitutionalist, Christian, and gun-rights activists from Fredericksburg, Texas. Previous episode https://pod.fo/e/a2f78 Live Interview   Chivona Renee Newsome, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Greater NY. https://twitter.com/newyorkvonni Live Interview   Majid Padellan, social justice warrior, social media expert, Twitter celebrity, an author, a digital designer, and a proud father of 5. His Twitter handle is BrooklynDad_Defiant.  https://twitter.com/mmpadellan Previous episode https://pod.fo/e/9f4f2 Live Interview   Read the Transcript