The Death Rattle of an Old America

In so many ways, Donald Trump represents the death rattle of an old America, and it’s loud and it’s violent.

When Eddie Glaude Jr. shared these words in 2021 — quoted in I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker — the country was still reeling from the end of Trump’s first presidency and the January 6 insurrection. His statement was less about Trump the man than about Trump as a symptom of something deeper: a nation convulsing through the final throes of an old social order.

That “old America,” as Glaude described it, is one rooted in hierarchy — an order built on white dominance, male privilege, and a narrow vision of Christian morality that left little room for those who lived or believed differently. For generations, this structure defined who counted as a “real American” and who did not.

Over the past half-century, however, that framework has begun to crumble. The civil-rights and women’s movements, immigration reform, and the steady assertion of LGBTQ+ rights have all transformed the cultural landscape. America’s population is now more racially and ethnically diverse than at any point in its history. Younger generations, raised in that diversity, tend to embrace pluralism as a fact of life rather than a threat to it.

But where some see progress, others see dislocation. The erosion of old hierarchies feels to many like a loss — of status, certainty, and belonging. Trump’s political genius, if it can be called that, lies in channeling that sense of grievance. “Make America Great Again” was not a promise of innovation or unity; it was a nostalgic summons to a mythic past when the boundaries of identity were clear, and the power of white men was unchallenged.

When Glaude called Trump the “death rattle” of that old America, he meant it was dying — noisily, painfully, and, at times, violently. The “loudness” is evident in the angry rallies, the online shouting, and the culture-war theatrics that dominate political life. The “violence” has been both physical — from Charlottesville to January 6— and psychological, reflected in the erosion of democratic norms and trust in institutions.

Still, every ending signals a beginning. The unrest of recent years is not only a story of decline; it is also a story of transformation. America is engaged in a long, uneven process of redefining who it is. The battle over belonging  — who gets to shape the national story, whose pain counts, whose voices are heard — is fierce because it matters. Glaude’s metaphor reminds us that the noise is not evidence of vitality, but of transition.

That truth was echoed in Tuesday’s elections. Across the country, voters rebuffed candidates who leaned into Trump-style grievance politics. Democrats scored major victories, including Zohran Mamdani’s historic win as mayor of New York City and decisive gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey. The results suggest that much of the electorate has grown weary of the anger and division that have dominated the public square for nearly a decade.

Five years after Glaude’s warning, the “death rattle” seems to be fading. The movement Trump embodied still exists — and may yet resurface — but it no longer defines the nation’s dominant rhythm. The noise of the old order is giving way, slowly, to the quieter pulse of a more inclusive, equitable, and forward-looking democracy.

I believe that the turbulence of the past decade will someday be remembered not as America’s unmaking, but as its painful rebirth. And now it’s up to us to take action that builds more momentum toward that future!