Opinion: Voter apathy and the dangers of Trump amnesia

As a Latina millennial living in Southern California, I exist in a state of frustration ruminating on the dumpster fire of a world handed to us. As I start my career as an Assistant Professor at UC Riverside, my disillusionment with the American Dream has reached a fever pitch as my college debt is never-ending and the idea of being a homeowner in L.A. feels laughable.

What my abuelitos were able to achieve when they migrated to the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s is a pipe dream that has been strategically disassembled through more stringent immigration policies, increased resources toward policing Black and Brown communities, and economic disparities between the Jeff Bezoses of the world and people like my abuelita, who worked in the sweatshops of L.A.’s Fashion District.

It is the social inequities and insecurity that leave Gen Z and millennials apathetic about the looming elections. Recently, Chappell Roan was picked apart for her critique of the elections as she said she would vote for Harris but does not endorse her. This indifference is the result of the U.S. government’s inability to care for and improve the quality of life for Black, Latinx, migrant, LGBTQ+, women and all of us living in the peripheries of rich white men. We are no longer asking if the American Dream is dead. Despite politicians talking about its resurrection, what I and the disenchanted seek is something new in its place that reimagines what it means to be in community. Despite our shared desire to see positive change in the world, I urge my fellow millennials and Gen Z students to please vote.

While many may think this is a lesser-of-two-evils argument, I invite you to challenge this binary. This oversimplifies the issues at stake and our personal autonomy to make a difference in the world. With that said, I also believe the trauma and horrors of the previous administration have clouded our memory of Trump’s actions.

We are suffering from Trump amnesia. Trump amnesia is a societal numbing to the heinous human rights violations, abuse of power, and media oversaturation from the period. It is the explicit acceptance and normalization of white supremacy. Looking back to the Trump years can feel like a haze due to the rapid rate of racist, sexist and fascist policies that came out, as well as a global pandemic, but allow me to be the refresher on this era.

At the beginning of his term, more optimistic observers believed the American political system of checks and balances would restrain Trump from enacting much of his bigoted policies, but they overestimated the design of an institution created by plantation owners in the 1700s. Political outcomes that were a direct result of his administration included Muslim travel bans, children being removed from parents at border camps, increased police budgets, environmental deregulation, the cabinet appointments of white supremacist Steve Bannon and the anti-public-school Betsy DeVos, and finally, his selection of Supreme Court justices leading to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Even out of office, Trump has been pushing for presidential immunity, which is a simple step from authoritarianism. He has laid the groundwork to do as he pleases.

As a scholar, I work alongside grassroots immigration activists in Southern California’s Inland Empire. During the Trump nightmare, my research found that activists were stuck in an emergency response loop, and unable to engage in transformative organizing. In the book I am developing, "Sanctuary i.e.: Meaning and Future of Sanctuary in the Inland Empire," I define emergency work as action that addresses direct needs like access to clothing, food, and shelter, whereas transformative organizing are the building blocks that challenge the status quo and realize ideals such as ending detention and incarceration.

Transformative organizing can entail educating the community about the harms of detention and developing community-based alternatives to support individuals navigating the complex and punitive immigration system. Ideally emergency and transformative activism work in tandem in supporting our communities. We need this balance today as we did before.

During my investigations, I worked at shelters that sought to keep families together and address their essential needs following release from border camps. This ranged from clean clothes to accessing volunteer medical professionals. I advocated for undocumented people and asylum seekers safety and rights could be honored. During Trump’s administration, there were 1.5 million deportations.[1] Trump amnesia leaves us remembering big moments, but allows some of us to forget the people who have the most to lose, like migrants trying to stay in their homes or seeking refuge in a hostile country.

Now, while I offer a postmortem account on the Trump regime, I will not pretend Biden improved the state of immigration. His deportation record is on track to match Trump’s. Biden upheld Title 42, denying asylum at the border deep into his presidency. We have not seen his administration reduce the annual budgets of Customs & Border Protection and ICE to pre-Trump levels, with 2024 exceeding Trump’s budget.[2] Harris’s campaign has been more centrist than her 2020 campaign, and she lost points during her first international visit to Guatemala, with the message, “Do not come to the US.”

While I cannot promise Harris will shut down detention facilities or create pathways to citizenship, I will argue it is easier to advocate for change under an administration that is not actively diminishing human, reproductive and environmental justice. Trump amnesia is a strategy his camp is banking on, as we are all fatigued by current events and uncertain futures. 

Drawing from abolitionist Angela Davis, we must take a multi-pronged approach to change. Abolition is not limited to dismantling the prison-industrial complex; it is about creating a society that centers a holistic care model addressing social inequities in all their forms, including anti-Blackness, education, healthcare and housing. 

As I argued earlier, it is critical to engage in both emergency and transformative work. Stay engaged with social justice community groups, attend your County Board of Supervisor meetings, and push past the discomfort of difficult conversations (within reason). Your community engagement must continue as we cannot sit back and hope a progressive candidate will keep the American Dream on life support. So yes, I invite you to vote, but also pull the plug on the American Dream! If you want to see change, we cannot simply entrust those in power to act in our interest—we must take an active role in molding our future.