The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: What Happened Thanks to Donald Trump’s Presidency

The opening of the new season of the US show “Good Fight” has definitely given its fans some food for thought. Happening in a kind of alternative reality, where the 2016 US presidency was won by Hilary Clinton, the episode shows that there are many things Americans can be grateful to Donald Trump for – including the exposure of Harvey Weinstein.

The election of beauty pageants-lover Donald Trump to the presidency back in 2016 may have seemed like a nightmare to feminists and women's rights activists around the world.

However, the alternative turn of events presented in the new episode of the CBS’s drama series “Good Fight”, where the main character wakes up to find out that 2016 elections were decisively won by Hilary Clinton, showed that there is a number of things that the global feminist movement could indeed be grateful to the US president for. Leaving television fantasies apart, few will doubt that a number of positive developments would never have occurred were it not for Donald Trump. Here are just a few of them:

• One of the largest single-day protests in the US history, Women’s March on Washington, would have never taken place following Donald Trump’s inauguration, as the activists took to streets to express their protest against the incumbent president’s alleged sexism and anti-female statements. Subsequently, it was the agenda behind the march that unified many single voices together and potentially paved the way for the #MeToo movement.

Participants of the Women's March march around the White House, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020, in Washington, three years after the first march in 2017, the day after President Donald Trump was sworn into office

© AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta

The unification of Hollywood against Donald Trump perhaps helped to shed some light on the misdeeds of entertainment industry mogul Harvey Weinstein in October 2017. Weinstein was a large donor to the Democratic Party and an open supporter of Hilary Clinton’s presidential bid, and it is far from clear whether the whole scandal would have taken place if Donald Trump hadn't assumed office back in 2016.

As the result of Weinstein’s exposure, the whole #MeToo anti-harassment movement gained momentum in the United States and subsequently the whole world, bringing down not only the ex-producer, but also some other powerful figures in the entertainment industry, including Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer.

Film producer Harvey Weinstein departs Criminal Court on the first day of a sexual assault trial in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 6, 2020

© REUTERS / Brendan McDermid

The movement strengthened female solidarity around the world and turned the topic of women rights into something more than simply a concept, but also an instrument and even a weapon from time to time, leading to some high-profile criminal cases. Again, thank you Donald.

Some studies also suggest that Donald Trump’s presidency and the rise of the conservative movement in the US have greatly contributed to a counter reactionary dynamic, including the mobilisation of African-American communities and their more active engagement in American political life, despite the absence of powerful figures behind them, such as Barack Obama.

With Donald Trump’s famous “fake news” outcry, the quality of the reporting and media investigations have now been under closer public scrutiny, and it seems that Americans do not easily trust what they read anymore. Investigative journalism is back in the game.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., center, joined at right by Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., pushes back on President Donald Trump's demand to fund a wall on the US-Mexico border with the partial government shutdown in its second week, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019

© AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite

Some Americans may also have found out that the US Congress can indeed work as an active branch of the federal government following Donald Trump election, and not simply oppose or support the presidential lead. Even some Republican Congressmen have not always been in agreement with Trump on a number of issues, and this may have helped to demonstrate to liberals how effectively American democracy can function.