Lily Miller
PG 101
Sousa
Trumpism
What is Trumpism? Such a straightforward question, yet the answer will vary with every person you ask. Is it simply the ideals of Donald Trump? Is it the cult following that he has somehow gained? Is it a form of government, one based in chaos? Is it the answer to all of our governmental corruption? Some people might say yes– to all of these. Trumpism is Donald Trump’s curated Republican Party, some sort of populist, chaotic governance that he brought into play. It is governmental action based on Trump’s beliefs. Trump doesn’t follow the rules of the Republican Party, nor does he adhere to its ideals. He is forging his own path and his own form of government under the nametag “Republican.” A key characteristic of this so called Trumpism is never knowing what Trump’s next move will be. Every day the United States wakes up to the collective thought, “What did Trump do this time?” This is due to the volatile nature of Trump’s stances on important political issues and his tendency to lie to the public. As of October 30, 2018, Donald Trump has made “6,420 false or misleading claims.” (The Washington Post Fact Checker) This leads to an obvious sense of distrust in the president and leaves the country in a constant state of questioning and confusion. This causes chaos.
In the article, How American Politics Went Insane, Jonathan Rauch states, “Trump, however, didn’t cause the chaos. The chaos caused Trump. What we are seeing is not a temporary spasm of chaos but a chaos syndrome.” (Rauch, 4) Our political system has gone crazy. Our government’s inability to organize, work together, compromise, and be transparent with the people of the United States has lead to possibly irreversible chaos. The chaotic nature of our government led to a person like Trump, egregious as he is, becoming president. The people wanted a strong leader, and Trump portrayed himself as that– he took over media during the election and made himself known. He claimed he was going to “drain the swamp” and rid the government of corruption from the inside out by getting rid of political insiders and addressing ethical controversies. He took a strong stance on immigration and Obamacare, and came up with the slogan “Make America Great Again.” He gained national attention by stating definitive stances, providing a goal for him and the country to accomplish together, and promising to end government corruption. All of these things were very appealing to the public, as a country that had been dealing with controversy, corruption, and chaos for many years.
Trump’s approach to politics proved attractive to Republican party voters, as shown by statistics from the CBS News exit polls. “Some 89 percent of self-described Republicans voted for Trump; 91 percent of white Republicans did.” In comparison, only 84 percent of white Democrats voted for Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. Although Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, Trump won the majority of the electoral college votes and had a higher percentage of voters from his party vote for him. This is interesting considering that Trump is by no means a Republican. Before running for president, he voted with and donated to both political parties, never really showing an affinity for or loyalty to one party over the other. His policies also don’t reflect those of the Republican Party. However, he was extremely vocal about his desire to “build a wall” in order to enforce anti-immigration policies, and promised to get rid of Obamacare, both of which were very appealing prospects to Republican voters. Trump succeeded in the polls because he demanded attention. He received an extraordinary amount of media coverage, both good and bad, that helped him to spread his message and amass a following.
In November of 2016, people wanted to vote for someone who would get things done. In the eyes of the majority of Republicans, that person was Donald Trump. He portrayed himself as someone with a straightforward goal and a strong drive to achieve it. This appealed to voters because it was simple and easy to understand. If you wanted a hard worker, you voted for Trump. If you wanted to better America, you voted for Trump. If you were anti-immigration, or anti-Obamacare, or a climate change denier, you voted for Trump. Because the majority of people are ignorant about politics, they formulated an opinion about Donald Trump without really doing any research. People voted for him just because he was Republican. They voted for him because they thought he was “better than Hillary,” or that he was “more trustworthy.” He seemed to have a strong position on several key political issues, and this appealed to the voter base.
Over the course of his presidency, Donald Trump has curated his own version of the Republican Party, and has convinced many people to follow him. Now, he has to act in a way that will please the people that got him to the top. He impulsively makes decisions based on what he thinks is best for himself and for his followers, completely disregarding the needs and rights of the majority of the country. He changes his view on important political topics at the flip of a coin, and often backtracks and contradicts public statements he has made. It is difficult to tell exactly what Trump believes in, or what he stands for. He has changed his mind about policies upon hearing it might upset his voter base, which further proves that he doesn’t stick to anything he says. Trump isn’t fighting for the country, he is fighting for his own personal gain and popularity. He will do whatever it takes to appease the people who have supported him from the beginning, including taking stances he doesn’t necessarily believe in. These actions have proven to be detrimental to minorities in the United States, and to people outside the country that have been affected by Trump’s policies, such as his “Muslim ban” and his desire to build a wall.
Interestingly enough, some minorities, especially women, support Trump. It is shocking that many Republican voters seem to vote against their best interest. Republicans tend to vote against public programs that would dramatically improve their quality of life, such as increasing school funding to better education, and focusing more on climate change. This is due to party polarization. Once a person has committed to a party, they often feel the need to stick with that party no matter what happens. They choose to vote with their party even if they don’t exactly agree with their party’s nominee. Voters often align their ideals with those of their political party, instead of forming opinions of their own. They trust that the party knows what’s best for the general public and will basically go along with whatever their party does. Republican voters stuck with their party even when a shockingly un-Republican person became their party’s nominee. They voted for Trump.
Once members of the Republican Party voted for Trump, they needed to defend their vote. This caused an increase in aggression towards Democrats and heightened loyalty to Trump. Now the Republicans had something to fight for– the defense of Donald Trump. Trump supporters grow more and more vocal by the day, inciting violence, riots, and alt-right marches. This need to defend themselves that Trump supporters have gained through their party affiliation makes them even more polarized, and even less likely to ever stray from their party. They have become more right-wing than ever.
This is exactly what Donald Trump needs in order for Trumpism to succeed. He needs a base of supporters that are willing to go to war for him, people who will never waver in their loyalty, and will go along with whatever he says. There is a shocking amount of these people in the United States. No matter how many times Trump lies, or changes his mind, no matter how many times he passes legislature that gravely effects the country, he will always have supporters. There is a sort of groupthink mentality among right-wing Republicans. They seem to have lost the ability to think for themselves and now act a mindless mob that unwaveringly agrees with everything Trump says and does. They will support the bombing of Syrian children, the ruthless tear-gassing of families at the Mexican border. They will support the forceful separation of children from their parents. These actions are not inherently Republican, but they are definitively Trumpist. They are chaotic and terrible, and they are all sanctioned by Trump, whose confidence is bolstered by the support of his followers.
Trumpism is the chaotic reign of Donald Trump, encouraged by the Republican Party and the lack of accountability the president seems to face. Trumpism is made up of Trump’s fickle political views, and his actions based on them. The chaos of the United States government spawned an even more chaotic leader, ironically enough, someone who promised to “end corruption” and “fix the government.” Trumpism is never knowing what the president’s next move will be, or what his views are on any given topic. Trumpism is the essence of Donald Trump, a wholly chaotic, albeit charismatic, leader.