I 100% think things would have been better the other way, though I will say the fact that Trump got elected means we have to own up to the fact he got this far at all, rather than just hide it under the rug and pretend everything’s okay. So yeah the activism and the increased awareness in current issues is probably the main positivity of note.
To draw a metaphor, I feel like the nation is like a person with a bad junk food habit and nonexistent exercise routine, who has denied this to themselves for years and finally admitted it in public. It is a good first step, but I fear that as a nation we will not do enough to combat the problem of partisan hackery and genuinely fake news, nor recognize that the problem with our government is that it has become a playground for financial gain, cynical deception, and extremist ideology rather than the abode of patriotic citizens capable of compromise.
I despair at times for it is so easy to fall into the echo chambers of our own making, both on the left and right, and respond with biting and easy retorts to any dissent for the support of our respective tribes. I am not absolved from guilt in this regard. The task, as I see it, is to hold ourselves to a higher standard of discourse, to always look toward de-escalating political rancor, to avoid demonizing political opposition in favor of seeing others as ultimately decent human beings. Such a standard is unnatural, and thus fragile, making it all the more important to cultivate and rigorously uphold.