United States of Tom

Today, the United States of America is held at an imbalance. Are we more like Tom, conceited and idealistic? Or are we more like Huck, realistic and understanding? While it cannot be said that one the country is 100% Tom or 100% Huck, its seems that Tom is winning, and one only has to look at the ongoing political battle raging in the US today.

One candidate that represents America as Tom is Donald Trump, who is seemingly disillusioned by his power and wealth. Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump has been totally uninhibited in what he says. For example his plan to build a wall, or most recently his plan to bar all Muslims from entering the country. Not only are these plans immoral, Trump’s lack of strategies to achieve many of his plans makes him look like he is just spitting out foolish ideas on a whim, just like when Tom in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn creates an elaborate plan to help Jim escape. In the end Tom creates more trouble than good, just like what Trump’s policies would do.

The fact that many of Trumps supporters are not deterred by Trump’s outbursts is also discouraging. While many of Republican candidates have reprimanded Trump’s plan to forbid Muslims to enter the country, Trump continues to remain in the lead on the Republican side, thus showing that many of his supporters are promoting and supporting his insane ideas.

Donald Trump is not the only presidential candidate that has embodied the spirit of Tom. On both sides, Republican and Democrat, the campaign has been about promoting egos and demonstrating superiority without focusing on solving the pressing issues at hand. Instead of addressing these issues, a lot of time has been spent discussing superficial questions, such as Hillary Clinton’s emails. While there may be some ideals in America that demonstrate that we are more like Huck, the campaign as shown so far that Tom has been dominating.