{"id":1060,"date":"2025-02-04T14:47:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T20:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2025-05-16T14:39:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T19:39:32","slug":"college-students-take-on-president-trumps-second-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/02\/04\/college-students-take-on-president-trumps-second-term\/","title":{"rendered":"College Students\u2019 Take on President Trump\u2019s Second Term"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone familiar with the Donald Trump administration will admit that his first term as President of the United States had its share of controversies\u2014whether they agree with the political left or the right. \u00a0Now that we are in the second term of his presidency, college students have shared their take on him being back in office.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lukas Parker, a moderate student at Johnson County Community College, is indifferent to Trump getting reelected but says he believes it was the \u201cbest case scenario based off of our options.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

College students that have any conservative views usually do not feel comfortable sharing their political opinions with their peers or professors for fear of being harshly judged. One such student who has been\u00a0brave enough to share her\u00a0thoughts is Allie Wilbur, a moderate JCCC student who leans more to the right. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased with [Trump] being back in office,\u201d Wilbur said. \u201cI think Biden\u2019s presidency really took a toll on the country. I think we have lost the ideals of what being an American is, and what America stands for, and I think that Trump will bring out the best in the country.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Democratic student, Luke Lahan, did not hold back when sharing his thoughts on Trump\u2019s second term.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is incredibly stupid,\u201d said Lahan. \u201cI think that he is a child molester and that he has no business being in our political office whatsoever. I also feel like him being back in office is going to lead to a lot of rights being taken away from everybody. I know that Biden was not a good president. He was way too old to be doing it, but I don\u2019t believe that Trump was any better. In fact, I believe he was worse from just the sheer amount of chaos that was caused.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Immigration<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Parker and Wilbur agreed that immigrants should be allowed to come to America, but that they should go through the legal process to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that anyone should legally be able to live anywhere,\u201d Parker stated.\u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of how we go about that.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilbur shared the same sentiment and believes that illegal immigration is getting out of control.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that everybody should have the right to live wherever they want to live, but they should do it in a legal manner,\u201d Wilbur stated. \u201cThey should not come into this country thinking that just because it’s a free country they get to do whatever they please. I think it has become a big issue; illegal immigration is a big problem. People coming into this country and bringing in drugs, bringing in gangs, and killing American citizens is just not right.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Parker did add that he thought that the system we have in place for immigrants to gain citizenship should be improved.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo become a citizen, [it] needs to change because I think the way we go about it is very strict,\u201d Parker said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost illogical because most of the questions to become a citizen, like I bet you some of our politicians probably wouldn\u2019t know. Don\u2019t heighten the expectations for a foreigner if your own people don\u2019t know the answer. But I do believe in legal immigration, I believe if someone wants to come here, they should be allowed to.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The Rights of the People<\/b><\/p>\n

The students had differing thoughts on the rights that American citizens have.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only concern I really have would be towards women\u2019s rights,\u201d Wilbur stated. \u201cI think that would be the only thing I am concerned about because most of the policies that Trump is going to enforce or has already enforced I agree with.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to abortion though, Wilbur believes the system we have in place is better than not having access to abortion anywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think taking [abortion] to the states was obviously beneficial because if it was overturned back to the President, it would be sent through the Senate which is mostly made of Republicans, and it would be banned everywhere,\u201d Wilbur said. \u201cI think giving it back to the states was beneficial because at least we have some states that have it available rather than it being\u00a0outlawed in every state. That would happen if it was overturned back to the President.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0On the other hand, Lahan opposed this view.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that he will take away our rights of choice away which is pretty much all we have,\u201d Lahan said.\u00a0\u201cHis reign will be short lived, and he will not be able to create the dictatorship that he wants, because there are a lot of rights that he can take away from women and gay people, but once he starts to taking away people\u2019s rights to choose in general, they\u2019re not going to be happy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerns About the Future of America<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Parker had concerns about what is going to happen in America in the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am concerned about how he is going to treat a lot of public centers like public education, healthcare, and things like that,\u201d Parker said. \u201cOne thing I am a little indifferent about is the recent tariff conversation just because we import a lot of our stuff, we\u2019re not really an export\u00a0first country, so I think that could have a lot of backlash on us.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilbur had concerns about the future of the country as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my biggest concerns would be another war breaking out,\u201d Wilbur said. \u201cI think we need somebody like Trump with a stern hand. Somebody who thinks like a businessman, runs the country like a businessman, and isn\u2019t afraid to talk to these people and set some rules straight. I think a lot of the Democratic party cowered in fear and tried to be friends with everybody. We don\u2019t need to be friends with everybody right now, we need to reestablish our dominance as a country. I think that is one of the biggest struggles that America is facing right now is that we have lost our power. Everybody looks at us as a joke and we need to reestablish that we\u2019re not a joke. That was primarily because of the Democratic party.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While Wilbur felt Trump would put her concerns at ease, Lahan is concerned for America because of our leader.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe having someone like him in office is going to lead to our entire structure being completely destroyed,\u201d Lahan stated. \u201cI\u2019m concerned about how much power he has over us. He was able to get exonerated for things that he never should have been able to walk from.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Parker also expressed that he worries about the inconsistencies our country and leaders have presented to the outside world as well as the American people.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest fear is that we\u2019re a country built off of contradictions and instead of fixing those contradictions we just keep contradicting ourselves,\u201d Parker shared. \u201cSo I think that is going to lead to a lot of future problems if we don\u2019t solve them now.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Economics<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Parker and Wilbur were close in agreement on their thoughts about Trump\u2019s economics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do definitely think that economic-wise with gas prices, grocery prices, and stuff like that is where we will see the benefit of having Trump in office,\u201d Parker said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the important economical issues to Wilbur is the tax that servers have to pay on their tips.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am a server,\u201d Wilbur said. \u201cTrump wants to enforce a policy that allows servers to keep their tips untaxed. I think that is a really big benefit because I pay 15% of what I make to the government, and Trump wants to stop that.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Parker also discussed Trump\u2019s plan to keep everything as American made as possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think Trump wants America to be an export first, almost like everything within America is made by America,\u201d Parker stated. \u201cWhich in theory could work, but time will tell.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilbur looks forward to a change in the economy after Biden\u2019s presidency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see what he is going to do to change how the country has been operating, because it has been pretty bad these last four years,\u201d Wilbur said. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, Lahan does not have faith in Trump to fix the economy after the way he handled Covid.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cEverything about our economy is going downhill,\u201d Lahan said. \u201cHousing prices, everything, we can barely afford anything. He kind of caused it from how he handled Covid. He created a monopoly with all stores being able to charge as much as they want for online shopping and things like that, because he didn\u2019t regulate it fast enough. He even accused China of starting it and also said it didn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fixing America<\/b><\/p>\n

Parker believes we need to focus on getting back to the meaning of being American citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans are a fix America\u00a0first then help other countries, rather than help everybody which is more left leaning,\u201d Parker said. \u201cI think that is one benefit, we need that. I think we need to focus on American morality and reestablishing what it means to be an American citizen. Over the past decade we have really lost what that means within our country.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He also shared that he knows Trump\u2019s policies may not last past his presidency if a Democrat is elected after him. Historically, many opposing parties have come in and undone many of the policies the former president before them had implemented that they disagreed with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think if Trump goes in, does all this stuff, but doesn\u2019t execute it and we don\u2019t get another Republican in office, I think it’s not going to be good,\u201d Parker said. \u201cThe problem is, you need at least five to six\u00a0years realistically for a plan to stabilize. You only get four years in presidency. If it\u2019s four years and then a Democrat they\u2019re just going to be like \u2018Why would we want Trump\u2019s policies? He\u2019s a Republican\u2019.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Influence of Media<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All three students were on the same page about people needing to be more open minded about their views and opinions, especially on politics. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lack of critical thinking,\u201d Parker stated. \u201cIt comes to a cultural idea of overconsumption. We over consume our ideas. Think about our media. You prefer let\u2019s say Republican ideas, so you\u2019re going to over consume on media [with] nothing but Republican ideas, and so your critical thinking isn\u2019t going to be open to the other side of things.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Wilbur agrees with these ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like the media never tells the truth,\u201d Wilbur said. \u201cA lot of society likes to follow the media and believe everything the media says but the media lies constantly. It doesn\u2019t matter if it is left or right. The media will fill your head with lies and make you believe things that aren\u2019t true. I feel like that sways a lot of people to think in this kind of idiotic way to where they can\u2019t even have their own opinion. They have to believe everything that everybody else says. I feel like that has caused most of society to behave like cattle. Just to follow a certain individual, or follow a certain way of thinking or mentality that just allows them to be closed off from any other opinion. They just can\u2019t believe anything else because of what they\u2019ve been told and I think the media is a huge influence on that, especially in politics.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lahan also wants people to think for themselves and not make their decisions based only off of what their party says to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like people don\u2019t really always take a look at both sides,\u201d Lahan said. \u201cA lot of people will only go with whatever their party stands for.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You Can\u2019t Always Get What You Want<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI think effectively both sides have great points,\u201d Parker said. \u201cHow the Democrats view \u2018my body my choice\u2019, I 100 percent agree with that. I agree with a lot of human rights that the left side believes in. But then on the economic side, I believe in the right. That\u2019s where we need to understand moderation. Both sides need to understand that you can\u2019t have everything. You\u2019ve got to sacrifice. If you choose everything, you\u2019re just going to lose everything. They\u2019ve got to understand what they want and don’t want.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilbur urges the American people to not be selfish.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need to step away from believing everything that they see in the media and create their own opinion,\u201d Wilbur stated. \u201cThink outside the box. Think of what benefits the country, rather than yourself.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone familiar with the Donald Trump administration will admit that his first term as President of the United States had its share of controversies\u2014whether they agree with the political left or the right. \u00a0Now that we are in the second term of his presidency, college students have shared their take on him being back in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1002,"featured_media":1063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[127],"class_list":["post-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-life"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Audrey Hook","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/02\/04\/college-students-take-on-president-trumps-second-term\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/02\/1-29-25-Student-reaction-to-Trump-presidency-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/02\/04\/college-students-take-on-president-trumps-second-term\/","display_name":"Audrey Hook"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Featured<\/a>","Life<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Featured<\/span>","Life<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"1","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on February 4, 2025","modified":"Updated on May 16, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on February 4, 2025 2:47 pm","modified":"Updated on May 16, 2025 2:39 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":127,"user_id":1002,"is_guest":0,"slug":null,"display_name":"Audrey Hook","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f79c3a45a811c37a7a31efddbe79249f44c62f7ea8b9766c81a5f622e4c0fffb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"Audrey","last_name":"Hook","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/02\/1-29-25-Student-reaction-to-Trump-presidency.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1060"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1065,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions\/1065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}