While Trump’s policy plans or personal viewpoints are increasingly ambiguous and ever-changing, one thing is painstakingly clear: he wants to make America great again.

This phrase has become ubiquitous, emblazoned across hats, laptops, and t-shirts, spoken again and again by the mouths of those who feel, like The Donald, that America is no longer great. When Americans hear those four words, they know what it is associated with. But do they really know what it refers to? These four words have much deeper meaning that is often left unconsidered. This phrase begs a series of very important questions: when does Trump think America was great? Why is it not great now? How can America become great?

In principal, this motto is quite atypical. Candidates often offer excessively optimistic outlooks on how America is doing. While citing issues the nation has, they continuously communicate the idea that America is great and Americans are great, but it can move forward to become greater. This concept of explicitly suggesting the country is not great is something that is not generally done, and it might even be refreshing if the situation were different, and it were not so alarming instead. Moreover, the concept of going back in time, and attempting to undo progress that this country has achieved, is not suggested by candidates because it is not only nonsensical, but dangerous. Progress is important. Progress brings about positive change for people, communities, nations, and the world. Progress occurs because change is necessary.

I was inspired to write this article by my roommate who read me a Twitter exchange she witnessed between college students. A girl tweeted about this very topic, asking her followers which America Trump is referring to. The responses she received were frightening.

One male Trump supported responded that America was better “when we weren’t soft as f***.” When she asked him to elaborate, a friend of the first male said, “The one before yo bum ass was complaining about it,” and the first responded, “people being offended over everything, even if it has nothing to do with them,” followed by “before liberals, progressivism, and political correctness took over. Cancer to modern society.” She ironically asked why she had not thought of that, and received the response, “because you’re not a man.”

This conversation is obviously disturbing on many levels, and reflects poorly on Trump, who has been heavily criticized for his misogynistic statements. But it’s not fair to say that one Trump supporter’s misogynistic and striking views are reflective of Trump’s, or those of any of his other supporters. In order to truly determine what Trump considers America’s period of greatness, the only person to ask is Trump himself.

This March, Trump addressed his foreign policy views in two interviews with The New York Times. He was asked, “What is the era when you think the United States last had the right balance, either in terms of defense footprint or in terms of trade?” His response was incredibly interesting (I have chosen to directly quote it in order to maintain the integrity of his statement.)

“Now if you really look at it, it was the turn of the century, that’s when we were a great, when we were really starting to go robust. But if you look back, it really was, there was a period of time when we were developing at the turn of the century which was a pretty wild time for this country and pretty wild in terms of building that machine, that machine was really based on entrepreneurship etc, etc. And then I would say, yeah, prior to, I would say during the 1940s and the late ‘40s and ‘50s we started getting, we were not pushed around, we were respected by everybody, we had just won a war, we were pretty much doing what we had to do, yeah around that period.”

In simpler terms, he is identifying the turn of the century, and the 1940s and ‘50s, and for two reasons: economic prosperity and American global supremacy. In slightly more technical terms, Trump too believes that America was great when we were not “soft”. And this is incredibly problematic.

At the turn of the century, America was indeed economically prosperous. As a nation, we experienced business development and global market success the likes of which had never been imagined before. On the surface level, we seemed to thrive. But underneath, the country was experiencing problems that are far from “great.”

Business was quite “robust,” but the foundations of the American market during this period are infamous representations of social and economic stratification in America. Industry, and subsequently consumerism blossomed through the exploitation of the working class; poor Americans and immigrants with minimal education and opportunity could only secure jobs in the labor sector, frequently factories, that were unregulated, leaving them vastly underpaid, mistreated, and often in dangerous work conditions. The market did flourish, and the elite business owners enjoyed the benefits and were free of responsibility, while workers lacked even basic rights, furthering divisions and inequalities in society.

While the turn of the twentieth century may not immediately elicit troubling images, the late 1940s and 1950s certainly do. We had just dropped the most destructive weapon in history, taking hundreds of thousands of civilian lives. Moreover, American citizens lived in constant fear from the threat of Soviet nuclear power. We achieved world dominance and constantly concerned ourselves with the business of civilizing nations we deemed uncivilized, forcing our ideals and values upon them, and often forgoing human rights in the process.

Of course, there are positive aspects of these time periods—national economic prosperity, accelerating technology, development of business, cultural evolution—all of which serve an important role in the history of America. But in 2016, this is not the greatness we should aspire to achieve.

Trump aims to create this America again: an America where market prosperity goes hand in hand with social division and inequality; an America where women cannot vote; an America where segregation is widespread. Trump is telling voters that he wants economic prosperity. He wants world domination; he wants America to achieve a position in which we can control and manipulate every country in the world. Is this greatness? Is this neglect for human rights, for those considered inferior both inside and outside of our borders, the greatness that this nation was founded upon?

There is still a long way to go, but we have achieved enormous progress since the ‘50s. Racism, homophobia, sexism, and other forms of discrimination remain entrenched in society—but much less so than before. Contested by the most qualified candidate this nation has ever nominated, by someone who fights for the rights of all instead of those of just a select few, Trump offers a vision of an America that many steps back, perpetuating bigotry and inequality around the world. Is that greatness?

We have a choice between someone who thinks the greatness we must achieve is an America that has been left in history for good reason, versus one who believes America is greater now, and its greatest days are ahead of us. Speaking at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, President Obama said something that simply and eloquently vocalized what is at stake this election.

“Our progress is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot.”

Progress, tolerance, and democracy make America great. Bigotry and discrimination hold us back from greatness. As a nation, we have a choice to define greatness. Every American citizen has a choice to stand up for what is right, to cast a vote for the future, or elect to revert to a lesser America. This is what is at stake, and this is the choice that each citizen has the privilege and duty of making.