You probably won’t be surprised to learn that Donald Trump’s presidential approval rating has steadily declined since he took office. This led to Reddit user SophieCruzReddit recently asking, “If Donald Trump had never won an election, how do you think the US would be today?”
Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
People had A LOT to say. The question received over 13,000 replies! Here are some of the best comments.
At first, many people were quick to indulge in the thought experiment:
1.“Right wing news sources would be attacking Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris’s character and outfits while taking shots at the First Husband. Left-wing news sources would be attacking their weak stance in the Middle East.”
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—daedalus1982
2.“Student loan forgiveness would be eight years ahead of schedule. Look at how much progress Biden made in just four years. Dems put that as a high priority, and a solid decade of work could’ve made a huge difference for so many Americans. Trump’s admin is likely to delay or abandon a lot of that work.”
—grammar_oligarch
3.“The country would be less divided. And I never would have realized how many people in my life were completely disappointing.”
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—lousyatgolf
4.“Women across the US would still have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies.”
—Darkogirl22
5.“I’d be preordering a Nintendo Switch 2.”
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—need_a_venue
6.“Republicans would be non-stop whining about the deficit and the cost of eggs, gas, groceries, etc. It’s what they always do when a Democrat is in charge, but they conveniently forget about all that the minute a Republican takes over.”
—jimtow28
7.“It depends. If Bernie Sanders had won the Democratic primary and not been shuttered by the DNC, I’m fairly sure we’d be on the way to a new Golden Age for the US. If Hillary Clinton had won, some nutjob Republican would’ve won in 2020, and we’d likely be on a similar track just a few years later.”
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—bimmy2shoes
8.“We’d have a 6-3 majority liberal Supreme Court.”
—Dizno311
9.“For almost four years, I did not hear anything about Biden. It was very nice, the way it should have been. Every time I wake up now, there’s some new BS constitutional crisis, and it’s only been three months.”
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—Shoddy-Area3603
10.“We wouldn’t have lost so many people who died during Covid.”
—CountOff
“Based off how the Democratic governor of New York handled Covid, I don’t agree with this. I think the government as a whole simply didn’t handle Covid well.”
—_MikeyP
11.“Regular people would have more money in their retirement accounts and portfolios. The US would still have economic allies.”
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—Few-Frosting-4213
“Not just economic allies. Allies in general.”
—Bubbly_Hawk_5456
12.“We’d see more serious regulation of cryptocurrencies. Trump likes them because he loves a good con. The people Trump legitimizes via his presidency are the exact people I think Clinton would’ve prosecuted for fraud.”
—grammar_oligarch
It’s worth noting that not everyone was on board with this thought experiment. Some people thought user SophieCruzReddit asked the wrong question entirely:
13.“We REALLY need to go all the way back to 2000. Then ask what would have happened if the Electoral College hadn’t overridden the will of the people and the right-leaning Supreme Court hadn’t thrown the election to the second worst president in our history.”
ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP via Getty Images
“We would have avoided at least one war — quite possibly two.”
—deviltrombone
14.“I think the better question is, ‘What would the country look like if the Fairness Doctrine hadn’t been abolished by the FCC in the 1980s?’ With the Fairness Doctrine in place, Fox News wouldn’t have launched, and half the country’s brains wouldn’t get rewired into being [a series of insults BuzzFeed cannot publish].”
—Hell_Camino
15.“Still the same kick-the-can-down-the-road nonsense from our milquetoast, spineless politicians who try to sit on the fence and get upset whenever the select few progressives shake things up. But at least we’d still have some stability, some legal protections, and some reasonable leverage in the world.”
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—stug41
16.“It’s very concerning that a lot of people think the issues we’re facing today are unique to Trump. He’s just a symptom of the issue; there will be many, many more like him because that is what this system produces. Fascism is growing everywhere, selfishness and greed are on the rise, the billionaire class thinks they’re untouchable, war crimes and crimes against humanity are still happening, and poverty and corruption are rampant. Trump just pulled back the curtain so people can see what’s actually going on.”
—pascaleon
Others didn’t think the thought experiment was appropriate, given how many lives are being threatened at this very moment:
17.“They’re disappearing people off the streets without due process. Like WTF is this question?”
—Gellix
“A few weeks ago, a friend of mine with Japanese heritage was stopped by ICE in broad daylight in NYC. She was like, ‘WTF, I was born here.’ They asked to see her ID. Absolutely insane.”
—zigzagcow
“The Obama administration also took people off the streets without due process during the Occupy Wall Street protests. This isn’t a new or different occurrence, other than who is behind it.”
—Ancients
Ultimately, most people seemed to agree with this final point:
18.“Remember when the biggest criticism of Biden was that he was boring? Imagine if one of the worst criticisms the US had to deal with was a lack of drama.”
Bloomberg / Bloomberg via Getty Images
—dvasquez93
H/T r/AskReddit
Some replies have been edited for length and clarity.
How do you think the US would be different today if Trump was never president? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
