Image Courtesy of Eleanor Montague, BBC Washington News Editor, Trump Rally in El Paso

The term “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) was used as a slogan in the Presidential campaigns for Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. MAGA is now seen as negative by liberals because of its association with current President Donald Trump.

There are those that dislike Donald Trump due to his views on immigration, shutting the government down for approximately 35 days and his various inarticulate inflammatory Tweets.. President Trump’s actions have been mirrored in his supporters by giving the reputation that they can also be racist and irresponsible for supporting Trump’s actions.

On February 11th, 2019, Rob Skeans, a cameraman working for the BBC, was attacked by a man wearing a MAGA hat. The supporter almost knocked over Skeans and his camera who was filming the speech Trump was giving. The supporter was finally pulled away from other media members. Trump asked during the speech if everything was alright, and the media as well as Skeans signaled back that everything was fine. After this event, the BBC wrote to White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders to ask for security arrangements for journalists and the media at future rallies for the President. The White House Correspondents’ Association stated that “the President of the United States should make clear to his supporters that violence against supporters is completely unacceptable.”

Trump has not had a friendly relationship with media, stating on February 12 on his twitter, “The New York Times Reporting is false. They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”

In today’s world, speaking of Donald Trump can anger many people within the United States; however, some people apply the actions of a few supporters of the President to reflect as the reputation of all Trump supporters. Donald Trump supporters are being portrayed as racist, gun-loving people who attack liberals upon their political beliefs from the views of more open borders, or the subject of universal healthcare.

The people that support Trump are not all the same people. Each person has different beliefs on multiple topics such as immigration, gun control, abortion, and healthcare. The incident involving Skeans at the rally for Trump was only the action of one person. Other instances, such as teenage Trump supporters in January surrounding Nathan Phillips, a 64 year old Native American man protesting at the Lincoln Memorial, give other Trump supporters a bad reputation. The opinions and actions of the people supporting Trump in this incident (as well as others) do not match the opinion of everyone who supports him. There can be a Trump supporter that is a Democrat who wants tighter gun control, and similar people may have differing opinions on other issues such as universal healthcare or methods for protecting the United States’ borders. This Trump supporter can view the actions of other supporters as negative. Some people still label Trump supporters without taking into consideration what their political beliefs are. Is a Trump supporter really a horrible person? A few people with their actions is not representative of the opinions of all people.