My name is Daniel. I was an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea, and am now a writer who has

published three books including South Korea: Our Story by Daniel Nardini.

                         No, I am not by any stretch of the imagination thrilled with current U.S.

President Donald Trump. Some of his viewpoints are too extreme, and his behavior recently

has become quite bizarre. That all said, to me joining left wing radical groups is NOT the answer.

This has been happening all across the United States, and left wing groups have seen a surge in

membership that has not been true for at least 40 years. Can this last? From what I see, the answer

is a definite YES. The crazier things that Trump does, the more likely that a growing number of people

will take to extreme measures on both the political left and the political right. But from what I see the

political left is the faster growing segment. Groups like the Democratic Socialists of America have seen

their membership more than double; the left wing group Socialist Alternative have seen their

membership grow by 30 percent; and the old Socialist Party U.S.A. has also seen a major growth in

its membership.This is in large part because many urban and suburban people from lower income and

even middle class income brackets see Trump going against them. This comes as no surprise because 

Trump's basic support comes from people who are upper-middle class and lower class rural people. Not

just Americans are joining such radical left wing groups. This is also happening among immigrants---those

who came to this country either recently or are naturalized U.S. citizens. The number includes Korean

immigrants who have either been influenced by the political left in South Korea or feel that they cannot

integrate into American society (at least not into rural or certain regional parts of American society). But

the real danger is this---as if it is not already bad enough being an immigrant in the United States, 

if the political right can persuade Americans that many if not most immigrants are in fact "dangerous

radicals," then this will make a difficult situation that much worse.