Donald Trump's In The Ecstatic Edge Of Politics
On June 23, 2016, anti-European and anti-immigration rhetoric fueled by the populist UK Independence Party led Conservatives to call the EU Brexit referendum with 51.9% of voters voting in favor of leaving the EU. It would mark a divorce between the United Kingdom and the European union and has had profound consequences both at home and abroad.
What exactly is populism? Cas Mudde, a Dutch political scientist who focuses on political extremism in Europe, defines populism as consisting of three core features: anti-establishment, authoritarianism, and nativism. Populism puts a large emphasis on believing in the virtue and wisdom of “ordinary” people over that of the “corrupt establishment” and generally reflects a deep pessimism about the existing …show more content…
Hochschild argues that unrelenting pressure on the white working class to keep up with an economy with increased competition for good, steady jobs has led to an exacerbation of preexisting fears for non-whites and non-Christians, with a specific target of Mexicans and Muslims in the case of Donald Trump. These blue collar, white, middle-class, men felt like a part of their country was being taken away from them by immigrants and lazy young people collecting welfare. This can be thought of as a “double consciousness” experienced by the white blue collar worker, feeling like “an outcast and a stranger in [his] own house” as Dubois described the way African Americans felt about their experiences with racism. These blue-collar workers felt as though their problems were ignored by the Obama administration and believed the political elites, the establishment, the powerful banks and corporations, and the mainstream media were all against them.
Inglehart and Norris would attribute Donald Trump’s appeal to two specific reasons applying to any support for populism: the economic insecurity perspective (due to consequences of a changing workforce in a post-industrial economy), and the …show more content…
Protectionist policies are extremely common among populists. Barriers and tariffs are beloved by populist candidates like Donald Trump, who commonly attack governments for failing to maintain the growing prosperity of a postwar society. The failure of the left-leaning parties to restore a sense of prosperity and security in a post-war society would certainly lead those underprivileged working class people to flee to populist parties who give a promise of a return to the “golden age”. Indeed, this was a significant part of Donald Trump’s campaign in which he promised to “Make America Great
What exactly is populism? Cas Mudde, a Dutch political scientist who focuses on political extremism in Europe, defines populism as consisting of three core features: anti-establishment, authoritarianism, and nativism. Populism puts a large emphasis on believing in the virtue and wisdom of “ordinary” people over that of the “corrupt establishment” and generally reflects a deep pessimism about the existing …show more content…
Hochschild argues that unrelenting pressure on the white working class to keep up with an economy with increased competition for good, steady jobs has led to an exacerbation of preexisting fears for non-whites and non-Christians, with a specific target of Mexicans and Muslims in the case of Donald Trump. These blue collar, white, middle-class, men felt like a part of their country was being taken away from them by immigrants and lazy young people collecting welfare. This can be thought of as a “double consciousness” experienced by the white blue collar worker, feeling like “an outcast and a stranger in [his] own house” as Dubois described the way African Americans felt about their experiences with racism. These blue-collar workers felt as though their problems were ignored by the Obama administration and believed the political elites, the establishment, the powerful banks and corporations, and the mainstream media were all against them.
Inglehart and Norris would attribute Donald Trump’s appeal to two specific reasons applying to any support for populism: the economic insecurity perspective (due to consequences of a changing workforce in a post-industrial economy), and the …show more content…
Protectionist policies are extremely common among populists. Barriers and tariffs are beloved by populist candidates like Donald Trump, who commonly attack governments for failing to maintain the growing prosperity of a postwar society. The failure of the left-leaning parties to restore a sense of prosperity and security in a post-war society would certainly lead those underprivileged working class people to flee to populist parties who give a promise of a return to the “golden age”. Indeed, this was a significant part of Donald Trump’s campaign in which he promised to “Make America Great