TRUMP: AN AMERICA DIVIDED



Economic Roots of Trumpism.
uDecline of the Rust Belt (factories closing). Decline of well paid manufacturing jobs due to both
globalisation and neglect and a move to a ‘New Economy’ based on tech and services. uTremendous
rise in drug use, etc, opiate crisis. Welfare of US children overall behind all of Western Europe
and most of Eastern Europe, despite overall wealth of the USA.
uCulture of ‘despair’. Suicide rates 3x that of the UK.
uGeneral feeling of left-behindness’
uPrimary appeal to White working class MEN who had lost their sense of identity

Reaganomics.
uTrickle-down economics proposed and put into practice by Ronald Reagan failed to ‘trickle down’.
Instead, money remained at the top and wages stagnated for the poor. uCollapse of Unions, ‘tsunami
of globalization’, left many communities lacking identity in despair. uTrump ‘noticed’ and spoke
‘to’ those voters. ‘American Carnage’. ‘I Love the Poorly Educated’. These ideas seemed
contemptible to educated liberals but spoke to the despair of many in the Rust Belt- very crudely,
but saying ‘I’m on your side’. uTrump provided an alternative ‘identity’ to those that had lost
theirs. He did so by appealing to a particular, divisive form of Americanism.
u
u

Two Americas. Horizontal and Vertical
uHorizontal America: Based on the fundamental truths of liberty, equality, and justice and premised
in the idea of a ‘Nation of Immigrants’ in which all are welcome and ‘equally American’. ‘Obama’s’
America. Yes We Can, Hope, Change etc.
u
u
uVertical America: Premised in much of the actual history of America. ‘White Americans’ and their
culture  are the ‘true’ Americans. Defined in the dominance of White Protestant Americans and the
historical oppression of people of colour

Trump and Nativism: The Vertical America
uAt least in part a racial backlash against the First Black President.
u
u‘Mexicans…. They’re Bringing Drugs, They’re Bringing Crime’……
u
uJudge shouldn’t rule on his case because hes Mexican (he was Mexican American)
u
u‘People from ‘Shithole African Countries’ should not come to the United States. People from
Countries like ‘Norway’ Should come
u
u

Trump and Nativism: The ‘Insider Outsider’ Dynamic.
uThe ‘Wall’ was a policy, but also a metaphor for an ‘insider-outsider’ dynamic that Trump chose to
create an ‘us and them’ mentality between White Americans and Others.
u
uEmployment of ‘Birtherism’ against Obama- tacitly suggesting that Obama cannot be truly American
because he was black. ‘Othering’ Americans of Colour.
u
uIlhan Omar ‘Go back to where she came from….. If she doesn’t like it here’.
u
u

Trump and Nativism 2: Religion and Symbology
uProtection of ‘traditional’ (read white) American festivals like Christmas. ‘They’re trying to ban
Christmas’ conspiracy. Focus on Flag and ‘Patriotism’ and demonisation of anyone who challenged it.
Colin Kaepernick ‘Son of a b*tch’ for  kneeling during National Anthem. u‘Muslim Ban’- sought to
other Muslim-American citizens and non-White, non-Christian citizens. uAppealed successfully to a
Exclusivist, Nativist American identity which was very popular among blue-collar, white men.
uPartially won because of the heavy concentration of these voters in swing states in the Electoral
College.

Trump and (Toxic) Masculinity.
uTrump built his campaign and presidency with ‘Hyper Masculine Tropes’.
u
uBelittled opponents for being ‘Little’ or ‘Low Energy’.
u
uReverence for ‘Tough Guys’, whether they be Law Enforcement Officials or brutal dictators abroad.
u
u

Trump and Toxic Masculinity (2)- Gender Roles
uTrump portrayed himself as the ‘strong male protector’, protecting borders against those ‘rapists’
who would protect ‘our’ women
uCalled Megyn Kelly a ‘Bimbo’, who had ‘Blood coming out of her wherever’.
uPlayed upon tropes of ‘suburban housewives’ Getting their husbands back to work (making the
assumption that was the natural order of things)
u2/3 of 2016 Trump supporters believed that America had been overly feminized. Trump was thus there
to restore the patriarchy against this ‘feminist insurgence’.
uTrumps largest support by far came from non-college educated white men. But 61% of non-college
educated White women voted for him too. Internalised Patriachy?
uIdea that parts of America wanted ‘Strong Male Leadership’, regardless of the character of that
leader.
uTrump played on deeply embedded misogyny that existed in America and to varying degrees across the
world.
u

Trump and Truth: Fake News
uTrump employed the classic populist trope of denouncing factually accurate statements and
replacing them with disinformation and conspiracy theories. ‘QANON’ being a good example.
u
uHuge online network of disnformation in the early stages of the campaign led by Steve Bannon.
u
uBannon ‘Massive Chaos’ Strategy. Throw so much disinformation into the mix that it becomes
impossible to tell truth from lies
u
uNot a Trump specific phenomenon- many people believe Conspiracy theories today due to free flow of
false information through the internet

America Divided
uTrumpism has left deep scars in America’s psyche and a tremendous divide between Rural ‘Trump’
America and the increasingly Liberal cities and Suburbs.
u
uTrumps refusal to accept victory and claiming electoral fraud is an attempt to ‘delegitimise’
Biden and further entrench these divides.
u
u71 million still voted for Trump- millions more than in 2016.
u
uTrump is defeated but Trumpism is far from defeated. Trumpian Takeover of the Republican Party in
full swing.

DISCUSSION QUESTION
uWhy Did Donald Trump Beat Hillary Clinton but lose to Joe Biden?
u-Coronavirus
u-Patriotism
u-Masculinity.
u-Divisiveness
u-Electoral College
u
uWhat Lessons can we Learn from Trump’s Win AND Trump’s Loss?