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Divided States Of America Summary

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Divided States of America is a TV documentary that was produced by Frontline. Throughout the documentary, it shows the path of Obama to the presidency, his difficulties he faced while president, and finally Trump’s rise to the presidency. This show did a great job of showing the deterioration of trust in our country. In the past ten years, America has gone from a socially unified country to a very tumultuous one. The path to division started when Obama was elected, escalated throughout his eight-year presidency, and culminated when Trump was elected president. Ironically, the division in America started by the same man who promised to eradicate it. Obama ran on the promise that he would unite America, that there’s no such thing as red and …show more content…

However, instead of waiting for what Congress would approach him with, he drafted his own ideas. Thinking this would be a great start to bi-partisanship, Obama brought it to the Republican party to receive their input. They were completely against it, and wouldn’t budge on their stance. At this point, Obama started to realize how impossible it would be to unite the polarized parties. While trying to unite Congress, a new issue came up that would further the divide in America even more. The issue of race. It started with an esteemed professor at Harvard arrested outside his home for doing nothing wrong, and he was also black. This issue led into other ones far worse: the Fergusson case, Emanuel African Methodist Church shooting, and Trayvon Martin’s death. Those who thought of Obama as the ambassador to “black America” expected him to crack down on police, and stop this issue of race. On the contrary, the role of president is to side with law enforcement and not stir the rebellious actions that followed these tragic events. This conflict put Obama in a difficult situation, and whatever he said ultimately made somebody upset. As the social unrest within America grew, Congress wasn’t much better off. To get anything passed, Obama resorted to Executive Orders or a vote that resulted in strictly party lines. This further enraged extreme Republicans known as Tea Party members, and Donald Trump eventually gave voice to these

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