Following the 2016 presidential election, over a thousand M-A students marched out of school in protest of Donald Trump’s victory and even destroyed a piñata of Trump with a baseball bat on the Green.
This time around, however, things seemed different—school continued as normal, with little mention of the election.
Trump’s victory in 2016 was shocking to most, especially considering he lost the popular vote.
“A lot of people didn’t think it was possible for him to win the election,” math teacher Rachel Andres recalled. “People didn’t take him seriously as a candidate. I think there was more of a shock factor for a lot of people, whereas this time, we know it’s possible because it has happened before.”
Eight years later, Gen Z is used to the chaotic state of politics. Today’s disorderly political climate is the only one they have ever known.
“My current ninth graders were born about 14 years ago, so in 2016 they were small elementary children, probably kindergarten or first graders. Realistically in terms of their lives, as long as they have been aware of politics, Donald Trump has always been a figure in politics and his rhetoric has always been present, whereas in 2016, that was something new,” Andres said.
Kate Vannini, who attended M-A from 2014 to 2017, recalled the pushback and shock following Trump’s victory. “It was really jarring at the time because we hadn’t seen somebody that was like him, with his background of multiple failed businesses and as a social figure rather than a political one, on such a large stage politically,” Vannini said. “It was also the time where the movement of political correctness was really starting to take hold, so somebody that could say such disgusting and inappropriate things being in such a position of power within our government was quite shocking.”
Around two weeks prior to Trump’s victory in the 2016 election, the infamous Access Hollywood tape was released. The tape, in which Trump bragged about sexual assault, was met with severe backlash and calls for him to be removed from the ticket.
Trump’s degrading language in his campaign starkly contrasted with the rhetoric of his opponent, Hillary Clinton, who based much of her platform on ensuring equal wages for women, expanding the rights of minority groups, and improving healthcare. Clinton won the popular vote, which made her loss sting deeper and reactions more outraged.
Occurring three days after Trump’s inauguration, the 2017 Women’s March was speculated to have been the largest day of protest in the United States at the time, with 500,000 people joining the central rally in Washington D.C. and millions more participating across the world. This year, the rebranded People’s March advocated for a multitude of communities and policies but only drew 50,000.
Similarly, at M-A, the protest advocating against Trump’s immigration policies drew fewer than 200 students—a staggering difference from the thousand who marched in 2016.
Since the 2016 election, political polarization within the U.S. has soared to an all-time high. 62% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats have an unfavorable view of the opposing party according to a 2022 study.
“In 2016, there wasn’t a huge amount of political discourse in the social media world, whereas now, it’s very hard to avoid political conversations on social media,” Vannini said. “It has played a really big role in shaming and shoving people down when it comes to trying to discuss with and understand each other. It’s allowed for more sinister forces to take hold instead of coming together as a community like we did in 2016 to have these conversations.”
Today, political discussions quickly become heated, even in person. In a highly liberal area, people can begin to fear speaking up and facing negative consequences.
“I prefer to not disclose anything political to my friends,” freshman Sophia Nguyen said. “Some people might criticize me for my opinions, which I really don’t want and I also want to avoid others viewing me as a wrong person.”
Prior to the 2024 election, the M-A Chronicle struggled to find conservative students willing to be interviewed. Despite asking numerous students, only two were willing to be quoted by name.
One of the students who agreed to be quoted by name, senior Matthew Jimenez, reflected upon the difficulties of engaging in productive and genuine conversations with others. “Sometimes I think I come across as more liberal, just because I don’t want to get into arguments with people,” Jimenez said.
However, Gen-Z has not completely given up creating change through using their voices. According to a recent survey conducted by the M-A Chronicle, 78.7% of M-A juniors believe protesting and voting can have a major impact on U.S. policies and political organizations.
As the Trump administration implements more and more controversial policies—from attempting to revoke birthright citizenship to banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports—whether or not we will continue to be disengaged remains to be seen.
