“Speak softly, and carry a big stick.” These are the words most often associated with a bellicose, adventurous, and strong “alpha” man. He was the president who set the stage for hawkish foreign policy, and began the age of American imperialism. For most people, he was a larger-than-life character, almost cartoonish in that sense. This is, of course, President Theodore Roosevelt.

“Down with the czar!” cried the protesters in Pushkin Square.

This was in January 2018, not November 1917, and the protesters meant Vladimir Putin, not Nicholas II. About 1,000 Russians gathered in Moscow to protest the upcoming March 18 presidential election. Additionally, police reported protests in 90 other cities around the country, calling for Putin to step down and encouraging their fellow citizens to boycott the election. Alexei Navalny, who is considered Putin’s most formidable political rival, organized the protests to highlight the election’s unfairness. The Kremlin barred Navalny from running because of his criminal record; he maintains that these legal problems were manufactured to prevent his candidacy.

On November 19, almost a week after the Zimbabwean military seized control of the country’s government, President Robert Mugabe resigned after 37 years in power. The world’s oldest head of state fought to the last minute, resigning only on the day when the parliament began its impeachment proceedings. Soon after, the country erupted into celebration, its citizens filling the streets dancing in joy with high hopes for their nation’s future.

Last Friday night at a rally in Alabama, President Donald Trump called for those NFL players who knelt during the national anthem at games to be fired. He was referring to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started kneeling during the anthem last year in protest of police brutality against black men. Others have recently kneeled in protest and in solidarity with their fellow football player Kaepernick, also starting the twitter hashtag #ImWithKap.

After his appointment in January, many American diplomats were optimistic about the new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. They hoped he would use his extensive managerial experience as CEO of ExxonMobil to bring much-needed reform to the State Department. Instead, he has done long-lasting damage to the department and continues to tear apart the values and goals of American diplomacy.