President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20 and he is again in the White House to both the dismay or happiness from American citizens. This difference of opinion has split the country, which leads to friends, or even family separating from each other based on political views.
The WCU community will have an opportunity to hear from Politico senior staff writer Michael Kruse discuss his article “How the Trump Era Broke the Johnson Brothers of Centralia, Illinois” with Lilly Knoepp, a senior regional reporter for Blue Ridge Public Radio.
The event takes place on Thursday, Jan. 23 from 6-7:30 p.m. in the University Center Theatre, on the 3rd floor of the University Center building.
Kruse published the article on Nov. 1, 2024, and it centers around two brothers, Ted and Fred Johnson. Fred is vehemently against President Donald Trump, while Ted has completely bought in to the MAGA culture, which has lead to this separation between them, alongside other personal struggles. The article breaks down the relationship between the brothers today and how it got to that point, while also diving into their family history.
“He (Kruse) is going to be discussing how we should all behave in the ‘Trump 2’ era,” Christopher Cooper, a WCU political science professor and the host of the event, explained. Cooper is also the director of the Haire Institute for Public Policy and this event is opening the 2025 Haire Institute Speaker Series. “Obviously, it’s an incredibly divisive time… I think he’s (Kruse) got some really smart thoughts about how to bridge those divides.”
As Trump’s second term is beginning, the divisiveness is at an all-time high, especially for students. According to Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, the 2024 Election results show that 51% of voters aged 18-29 voted for Kamala Harris, while 47% voted for Trump, a fairly close result. The TikTok ban, and quick resurrection, has been a massive topic of discussion since 47% of undergraduate students use the app according to University Business, and considering that Trump supported the ban in 2020 and is now planning to give the app a 90-day extension to sell to a non-Chinese buyer.
Combine that with the Israel and Gaza ceasefire, which Trump is taking credit for even though he was not in office yet. The Israel-Hamas war saw many protests earlier in 2024 across college campuses nationwide, meaning the issue means a lot to college students. Two big events that have many different opinions clashing against each other, and that’s why Cooper believes that this will be a very important event for students to attend.
“We all struggle with how to communicate in these kinds of political times,” Cooper said. “We struggle with how to have empathy for people who believe differently than us. And I think it’s never been more critical than right now, there’s no generation that’s better suited to be able to bridge those divides than this one.”
