How will you explain this period of American history to your grandchild/great-grandchild?

[True Dough]

Let's say in a decade from now, your grandchild or great-grandchild is learning history in school.

He or she approaches you and asks, "How did America allow that to happen?"

What will your response be?

[The Blue Flower]

1. I won't pretend to understand it

I'll just say not everyone was for it.

[dem4decades]

2. Evil people took over the country.

[hlthe2b]

3. Well, I probably won't have to, but I would refer to it as our "Period of Intense Shame'

and describe the similarities with 1930s Germany and the rise of Hitler. But, my children would learn history from the cradle, so I doubt anything I had to say would add too much to their understanding from prior discussions.

[MiHale]

4. They are living it right along side us...

they understand why we go protesting…it’s discussed at gatherings…little different having the grand kids and greats being around.

[rampartd]

5. allow what to happen?

the motto at jamestown was "if you do not work you do not eat."

the pilgrims held witch trials.

what has changed since then?

corporate power, hierarchal religion and business. institutional racism and settlement violence worse than palastine.

trump? i allowed this to happen by never imagining that pedophiles could operate so openly, that crime was the most honored profession

"

[sop]

6. There have been many equally shameful periods of American history, we seem to have short memories.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. The same way it continues to let it happen -- by refusing to dismantle the white supremacy this country is built on.

[Ocelot II]

8. I have neither so I won't be faced with that problem, which is a good thing

since I can't even explain it to myself and probably never will. This whole era will be listed under the WTF? column.

[Chasstev365]

9. We allowed the Fox Propaganda Network to go unchecked and we weren't ready to handle social media

Lies took hold and people voted for politicians and things that hurt them.

[True Dough]

10. And some people are gullible, unfortunately,

making them more susceptible to swallowing the lies. Some others badly want to believe the lies because they are hateful people. America needs fewer people like them.

[Renew Deal]

11. In Chinese

Because Trump has set America back in the world.

[Mysterian]

12. Will our plutocracy be gone then?

I sure hope so.

[Efilroft Sul]

13. Our ancestors killed the Nazis abroad but we were too scared to send the modern domestic ones screaming down to hell.

HOWEVER, if by miracle there is a political solution to this problem, we need to Nuremberg the shit out of this administration and its accomplices and not let them off the hook like the Confederates after the Civil War. You want to get rid of this taint forever? It only happens when they all fall through the trap door in the floor and their necks snap.

[Intractable]

14. Assuming things get better, I'll say, "It was a time of multiple, grand, society-wide psychoses."

If things don't get better, "It was the beginning of the new normal."

[gulliver]

15. They won't be learning anything in school

... and the only thing they'll be asking me is if I need a blanket. And I'll respond with my usual response to that question, "Who are you, Dear?"

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Are schools teaching about 2016 in History classes now?

"What happened a decade ago" is pretty much current affairs. The electorate won't have changed much, so the explanation will still be "look how many idiots and bigots there are around you".

[True Dough]

19. When I was in high school in the early '90s,

we learned about Woodstock and the hippy '70s, so it's not that far off.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. I didn't study anything under 30 years ago when I was at school

and even then, most of it was 150+ years ago.

[Midnight Writer]

17. America is an internal combustion engine burning corrupted gasoline.

It has started sputtering, and soon it will seize up altogether.

[A HERETIC I AM]

18. Because almost 40% of eligible voters stayed at home and even though they saw what was coming....

they just stood by and watched while the most vile 35% of voters got their way and elected a madman twice.

[sakabatou]

21. I'd try and explain it akin to the rise of Hitler

[meadowlander]

22. Like the Inclosure Acts, there was a lot of common property that a few individuals fenced off

and declared was their private property and then the rest of us either did or didn't do anything about it.