Those We’ve Lost in the Trump Era
It’s hard in the chaos and Bedlam of the Trump era, the chaos of 2020, to take stock of the enormous losses we’ve had as a people. Between the hundreds of thousands dead, millions unemployed, and the untold amounts of human suffering caused by a necessary yet terrible isolation, we might not recognize just how many towering figures of history and culture have been lost in the interim of this era of American politics.
In many ways those we’ve lost represent the end of an era of America, and the birth of a new one. That this has happened under the auspices of the most unworthy leader we’ve had in modern history is a tragedy. To that end, this is a brief list of some of the greats we’ve lost in the preceding years since 2016.
David Bowie
Prince
Glenn Fray
Alan Rickman
Judith Kaye
Harper Lee
Antonin Scalia
Maurice White
Jim Harrison
Yvette Francis-McBarnette
Mother Angelica
Nancy Reagan
Merle Haggard
Katherine Dunn
Anton Yelchin
Muhammad Ali
Elie Wiesel
Gene Wilder
Pete Fountain
Gloria Naylor
Arnold Palmer
Phyllis Schlafly
Sharon Jones
Gwen Ifill
Kenny Baker
Leon Russell
Leonard Cohen
Debbie Reynolds
Carrie Fisher
George Michael
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Chris Sager
John Hurt
Mary Tyler Moore
Jimmy Snuka
Kevin Starr
Zhou Youguang
Mildred Dresselhaus
Aileen Hernandez
Chuck Berry
Linda Hopkins
Don Rickles
Greg Allman
Roger Moore
Chris Cornell
Michael Bond
Prodigy
Adam West
Chester Bennington
George Romero
Liu Xiaobo
Jerry Lewis
Glen Campbell
Barbara Cook
Fats Domino
Monty Hall
Lillian Ross
Len Wein
Darwyn Cooke
Halim El-Dabh
William Lombardy
Tom Petty
Malcolm Young
Clarence Beavers
Dolores O’Riordan
Wyatt Tee Walker
Billy Graham
Stephen Hawking
Linda Brown
Barbara Bush
Aviicii
Abbas Attar
Eddy Clearwater
David Douglas Duncan
Anthony Bourdain
Dorothy Cotton
XXXTentacion
Matt Murphy
Charles Krauthammer
Dick Leitsch
Kathy Shaw
Harlan Ellison
Henry Butler
Steve Ditko
Ann Hopkins
Shinobu Hashimoto
Aiko Yoshinaga
Dr. Katie Cannon
Aretha Franklin
Kofi Annan
Brian Murray
John McCain
Neil Simon
Marie Severin
Burt Reynolds
Mac Millar
Marilyn Lloyd
Big Jay Mcneely
William Baker
Will Vinton
David Wise
Otis Rush
Joachim Ronneberg
Ana Gonzalez
Stan Lee
Olivia Hooker
Stephen Hillenburg
George Bush
Evelyn Berezin
Amos Oz
Nancy Roman
Bernice Sandler
Carol Channing
Carrie Ann Lewis
Marjorie Sharmat
Dick Dale
Tejree Thapa
Nipsey Hussle
Richard Cole
John Singleton
Peter Mayhew
Norma Miller
Rachel Held Evans
Doris Day
I.M. Pei
Binyavanga Wainaina
Dr. John
Cameron Boyce
Ross Perot
Fernando Corbato
Cardinal Jaime Ortega
Hal Prince
Toni Morrison
Peter Fonda
Marca Bristo
Cokie Roberts
Eddie Money
Elijah Cummings
Cokie Roberts
John Conyers Jr
Azam Taleghani
Maria Perego
Bogaletch Gebre
George Clements
Juice WRLD
Heidi Hynes
Phase 2
Elizabeth Wurtzel
Christopher Tolkein
Max von Sydow
Kenny Rogers
Kirk Douglas
Albert Uderzo
The Rev Joseph Lowery
Neil Peart
Bill Withers
Betty Wright
John Prine
Kobe Bryant
Bennie Adkins
Little Richard
Tommie DePaula
Jerry Stiller
Christo
Joel Schumacher
Adam Schleshinger
Milton Glaser
Bonnie Porter
Ennio Morricone
Brian Dennehy
John Lewis
Olivia De Havilland
Regis Philbin
Naya Rivera
Charlie Daniels
Herman Cain
Malik B
Frankie Banali
Chi Chi DeVayne
Diana Rigg
Chadwick Boseman
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
This is just a sliver of the astonishing cost in human achievement the Trump Era has taken from us. The incalculable legacy wrought from the work of these men and women indisputably left the world a better place. This is the gap that we are called to step into, to fill the void left by their absence. It’s up to us to pick up where they left off and continue the work of bringing good to others. This is the calling of our times.
Christian Thrailkill is a graduate of Southern Methodist University, Graduate Student at University of North Texas, musician, and columnist. He lives in Dallas, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @Wolvie616
