His comb-over is a source of national amusement. He is unapologetically blunt and bluntly unapologetic. He has given few speeches without mentioning his net worth. And yet, this unlikely presidential candidate has managed to far outpace his rivals in the crowded Republican field and currently holds a strong lead in the polls.
The phenomenon known as Donald J. Trump has generated a great deal of debate and heightened interest in an election still over a year away.
On Tuesday, Sept. 15, a group of Connecticut College students and faculty gathered in Coffee Grounds to discuss their mutual mystification over Trump. Chair of the Sociology Department Ron Flores, Professor and Director of the American Studies department Catherine Stock, and Professor and Chair of Government and International Relations Department Tristan Borer all helped facilitate the discussion. Questions concerning the legitimacy of the polling process, the true definitions of patriotism and political authenticity and the potential ramifications for Trump’s outlandish claims were all raised.
The conversation started with a basic question posed by Professor Stock: Why do so many people support Trump? One suggested answer was that Trump’s inflammatory and widely reported remarks about immigration have tapped into a national frustration characterized by xenophobic patriotism and disillusionment with the political process. Trump has accused Mexican immigrants of being “drug dealers,” “criminals” and “rapists.” While these remarks are false, cruel and insensitive, the sad irony is that many Americans apparently – albeit silently – harbor such beliefs, and therefore see in Trump someone who “tells it like it is.” Professor Borer raised the interesting point that the “American community seems to be conflating bluntness/bullying/rudeness with honesty.”
Of course, this raises the question: Who are these people who herald Trump as a paragon of honesty, as someone who can speak for them and as a true patriot? One student noted that Trump’s comments about the challenging and highly complex issues America faces today are devoid of substance, demonstrate no political expertise and reveal a disturbing megalomania. Trump claims that only he can negotiate with Putin; only he can build a wall across the Mexican-American border. In regard to ISIS, Trump stated: “bomb the hell out of their oil fields….and Exxon would come in and re-build them so fast your head would spin.” The student wondered aloud how people who claim to support Trump can be so blind to the fact that Trump’s positions lack merit.
Another compelling point was then raised; we have seen this yearning for a seemingly strong, tough-talking leader to give hope to a vulnerable, distressed population previously in history. One student posited that Trump’s popularity “is also the result of circumstances dominated by fear.” The student went on to note that this past year, political events have often been characterized by a fairly liberal agenda – the passage of Obamacare and the legalization of same-sex marriage, for example. The student added that, in a similar fashion, Hitler “was the result of the anger after World War I and the Versailles Treaty, and he blamed the country’s conditions on the Jews.” While acknowledging that the comparison was somewhat far-fetched, the student added that Trump’s is in “a very similar situation [to Hitler’s] with the scapegoating and blaming the situation on immigrants.”
While this idea is alarming, one crucial difference to note is the reality between the popularity demonstrated for history’s totalitarian leaders and the popularity demonstrated for Trump. Trump’s supposed dominance does not necessarily reflect the true feelings of the American public. For example, there is a serious question regarding the polls’ credibility this early in the process. While it is correct that Trump is the only Republican candidate who has broken 30% in the polls, one student shared an interesting insight into what exactly is behind these polls. The student notes the media’s strong incentive “to produce opinion polls, because they are getting all their business from Trump…They sample a small portion of people, they provide us with the numbers, and then we eat it up.”
The same student added that this manipulative sampling method served as indicator that “this is not going to be a sustainable campaign.”
Another student contributed to this argument by recognizing that Trump’s popularity could likely be attributed to the ubiquity and general notoriety of his name. One student, who spent the previous night watching numerous interviews of Trump supporters at rallies, said: “it’s alarming how many people say they support Trump because they’ve seen his name on a building in New York.”
Given the likelihood that Trump’s high poll numbers in fact overstate the extent of public support for his candidacy, it is similarly alarming that we, as a country, would give someone like Trump a platform by tuning into the nonstop media coverage. As Professor Borer noted: “every time he really offends a group of people, often women, his popularity has gone up.” When “white power” is being shouted at Trump’s rallies and the Daily Stormer, a Neo-Nazi white nationalist publication publicly endorses Trump, it forces us to ask: When does this stop becoming funny?
One student said she noticed that there is great frustration among Trump supporters concerning the American “obsession” with being politically correct: “they feel they cannot voice their opinions without being attacked for not being politically correct.” But as the student rightly noted, these supporters should consider the questions: Why can’t we say these things; why are they considered offensive; why is this something that is not socially acceptable to do?
Trump allows Americans to circumvent difficult questions as to why they hold their beliefs by saying things that are so offensive and racist, Trump validates his supporters’ own prejudices while empowering them. As one student noted: “the American identity…is continuously changing. America was founded on the genocide of Native Americans…and there are always more people coming and changing what it means to be American.” As a result of this constant change, a certain population tries to reclaim the white-centric conservative idea of the American identity, and Trump taps into that mindset.
In all of this madness, however, lies a potential silver-lining. Trump’s campaign has revealed disturbing truths about the American psyche: hostility towards those perceived as different, an overly narrow conception of what it means to be an American and the harsh reality of what it takes to succeed in this country. Because of Trump, much has been spoken and written in recent months about prejudice, racism and the urgent need for constructive changes in our nation’s immigration policy – problems that a wall and guns simply won’t fix. Because of Trump, more people are watching the political debates and becoming educated about the issues.
It was the consensus among many at Tuesday’s event that Trump will eventually “flame out” as a candidate. But if his candidacy contributes, even inadvertently, to creating a more educated and engaged electorate – ultimately the best guarantor of our nation’s democracy – perhaps Trump’s candidacy may turn out to be worthwhile. •
