What the hell does Make America Great Again mean?

[Ban my account ffs!]

Maybe it's a Biblical reference to MAGOG!!!!

[Bismarck]

I always interpreted it as “Stop the decline of America”. Lots of people feel that the USA is on the downswing, that our moment in the sun is setting, and that the American dream isn’t available in all areas like it once was.

[Hollywood]

"Make America Great Again" = "Hope" and "Change we need"

Its just a campaign slogan. 

[Sumner 1868]

Cut taxes... cut regulation, cut spending, cut entitlements, cut cut cut. Less taxation, less regulation, less litigation.

These things are "globalist" my friend. Your insistence on mixing failed 80s right-wing policies with "populist" rhetoric is bizarre and suggest your mental clock is largely frozen but moves just enough you adopt the latest GOP "mood" as you see it. Which is probably true for a lot of people unfortunately.

[pbrower2a]

When Reagan said it, it meant to not yield to the Iranian ayatollahs or to what he considered Marxist tendencies. Under Trump it means return to the good old days when minorities knew their subordinate and impoverished places, people worked longer and harder for much less, welfare and unions were practically non-existent, taxes and regulations were few, the gold standard was in effect, the common man believed that God had made him responsible to the economic elites, and the elites could lord it over everyone...

1920s again, when it was great to be rich  in America.

Make America Great Again (for the Master Class) -- that's the hidden meaning.   

[Bojack Horseman]

Make white men first again. Put those feminazis, n***ers, Mexicans, fags, and Jews back in their place because we Angry White Men never said they got to have rights.

[catographer]

according to data regarding the health, wealth, and safety of the US, we've never been better. that's been consistently true probably for every year since the 70s if not before. in my mind, america is continuously getting "greater" every passing year. human progress isnt moving backward.

[OSR stands with Israel]

In my opinion, America was at its greatest from Early 1983- Early 2001.

[GlobeSoc]

Cut taxes... cut regulation, cut spending, cut entitlements, cut cut cut. Less taxation, less regulation, less litigation.

These things are "globalist" my friend. Your insistence on mixing failed 80s right-wing policies with "populist" rhetoric is bizarre and suggest your mental clock is largely frozen but moves just enough you adopt the latest GOP "mood" as you see it. Which is probably true for a lot of people unfortunately.

[kyc0705]

The other day, I said Bodak Yellow is what Made America Great Again, and nobody contested it.

[Xing]

"Make Trump richer than ever"

[Badger]

White identity politics

not in 1980

Read about the campaign rally Reagan used to open his general election campaign after the convention. Specifically the location and speech theme.

[OSR stands with Israel]

White identity politics

not in 1980

Read about the campaign rally Reagan used to open his general election campaign after the convention. Specifically the location and speech theme.

States Rights is literally an amendment in the constitution, and Reagan entire theme of the campaign was to reduce the size of the federal government. Reagan also did make America Great again after the previously terrible 12 years

[Santander]

White identity politics

not in 1980

Read about the campaign rally Reagan used to open his general election campaign after the convention. Specifically the location and speech theme.

Beep boop literally believes Reagan's "states' rights" speech was about business regulations.

To be fair to Reagan, the Neshoba County Fair is one of the most important stops for a politician in Mississippi, so there was probably nothing racist in the venue selection itself, as is sometimes suggested by Democrats.

[TheSaint250]

Whenever I thought about it, I would say economic progress made under Reagan and Clinton (though, of course, many may disagree with me calling that progress). While there was/still is much to do with civil rights, the 1980s and 1990s continued to leave behind the twisted ideas of segregation and other discriminatory, a process that, of course, begun with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In short, more economic prosperity and more national unity regardless of gender, race, or, more recently, sexual orientation.  Of course, no time in America is perfect, and that's why we should learn from the past, improve upon it, and add to it. 

This is what it should mean and what I believed, yet Trump has abandoned this just to satisfy himself and deliver cheap "wins."

[TJ in Oregon]

What it means is that he'll pledge to rebuild places like:




by bringing back industry to those areas, to the collapsing hometowns where his supporters live. Now, that's not purely economic; there's a cultural element in that idea too: restoring pride in one's community, job, trade, etc. that is frankly critical to our national hegemony. It is a fundamentally positive view of one's own culture that stresses a kind of restoration of a lost nation. If this doesn't make any sense to you, watch Gran Torino and try to understand the outlook of Clint Eastwood's character.

Of course this line of thinking has some flaws baked into it. First, there is a tendency to fall into a nationalism that is based on hatred of other cultures rather than a love for one's own (though this is not unique to nationalism; there is also a type of cosmopolitanism rooted in hatred of one's own culture rather than a love for others'--which is far more common than the standard liberal talking points would have you believe). Second, there is also the question of whether or not any policies of these sorts will work, much less whether Trump will be the one to make it so.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Make America White Again basically.

Is this really true? America is already great in a sense. What more?

America.

Great.


Don't do patriotism, kids.

[HisGrace]

Asking/answering this question after Trump already became president is somewhat poor timing.

[darklordoftech]

I think that aside from the word choice, Trump saying "Make America Great Again" has more in common with Pat Buchana saying "Make America First Again" than it does with Reagan's campaign buttons.

[Cold War Liberal]

If America wasn't great during the later years of the Obama administration, then, objectively, it never has been before. America wasn't great in the 1920's, at least not for everyone. Segregation, the Klan, and lynch mobs were still a huge thing. Same with the 1950's. In the 1980's the War on Drugs was in full swing, locking up nonviolent people for life, and if you were gay you might as well not exist in the eyes of Saint Reagan, even if you had AIDS. And we also sold weapons to those who would later become al-Qaeda so we could take down the Contras. I guess the 1990's weren't terrible, unless you fell on hard times and had to use what little welfare still existed, and the War on Drugs was still a thing. Under Dubya we got into two pointless, astronomically expensive wars we couldn't win and a major economic recession due in part to rampant deregulation. Obama wasn't perfect but he got a lot of good things done.

Stop political correctness, especially when the opposing view is vastly outnumbered by the majority. For example, if there is a school of 800 kids and they throw an annual Halloween party and two of the 800 kids don't celebrate Halloween, be sure not to cancel the party. Don't upset 798 to appease two.

Majority rule should apply to holiday parties, got it. I totally agree. I feel like there's some other area that majority rule should apply to. Hmm, I can't quite put my finger on it...

The other day, I said Bodak Yellow is what Made America Great Again, and nobody contested it.

I put it in my sig, because it's true.

[pbrower2a]

Donald Trump is taking credit for trends that existed before him and have nothing to do with him. The Stock Market has soared because of near-zero interest rates. Unemployment among blacks and Hispanics is at all-time lows because blacks and Hispanics have done things right (more education, more development of vocational skills, and more business formation) as trends that began before Donald Trump became a high-profile celebrity. ISIS reels because Obama gave the military and the intelligence services what they wanted for doing so -- and because ISIS is so horrible that where it is ousted it is unwelcome (much like fascism in World War II).

Anybody can ride a trend. What Donald Trump does not admit is that he is taking the equivalent of a leisurely boat ride eastward on Lake Erie and is dead set on taking the course where it leads. Lake Erie funnels into the Niagara River around Buffalo -- need I say more?

[Statilius the Epicurean]

It means he gets results you stupid chief.

[HillGoose]

in Reagan's case, it mean to increase military spending and kick the Soviets ass.

in Trump's case, it means to enforce socialism so that those "great manufacturing jobs" stay in the country which will put America behind the rest of the world in technological innovation.

[Person Man]

White identity politics

not in 1980

Philadelphia. Mississippi.

[publicunofficial]

Bronz: "America is already great, and has been since 1994 when Mayor Rudy kicked all the sqeegee men out. I don't know of any problems in America since then."