Article 7 – Analysis of Donald Trump’s Political Success in Relation to Hate and Racism

By John Hendrickson

Introduction

The 2016 American Presidential Election Campaign revealed major-party candidates who made race and sex one of their main issues in their battle for the Presidency. The election year of 2016 also witnessed the largest gap between voting preferences of college-educated and non-college educated whites since 1980. This gap in voter preference has been fodder for much political debate as everyone tries to weigh into the discussion about the reason for the gap. Two prominent theories came out. The first was that working class whites felt left out economically during the President Barrack Obama years. The other theory was that Trump’s overt romance with racism and sexism strongly appealed to many non-college whites, an act that conversely disgusted the other half of potential voters, namely, the college-educated (Schrieffer, 2018). I will argue that Donald Trump is a self-serving politician, who is only concerned with personal monetary gains, even if that comes at the expense of the people who elected him. Trump therefore qualifies as an individual who is intentionally and systematically using lies, hate, fear and division to actualize his quest for power.

Argument

Donald Trump’s intent epitomizes the classic Conflict Theory in that he aims to benefit himself and his own elite alliance of various National leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Billionaire business leaders at the cost of the poor and middle class. President Trump and his elite alliance benefit from keeping the lower working class in a position advantageous to their own financial interests. An example is the insatiable desire of these despots and greedy businessmen to make the poor to need to buy whatever services or product the rich wish to profit from. Also, the elites magnify their profits by creating and maintaining monopolies that let them control the price of said products, commodities and services. A common example is the manipulation of global oil prices by the major oil producing countries. The interesting aspect of the Trump campaign is that many Americans seemingly voted for Trump against their own financial and social interests. Americans were largely unaware that they were empowering a man who was not working in their interest because they were manipulated with hateful propaganda and racist fear mongering (such as the need for a border wall on the Mexico-U.S.A. border). For instance, Trump gave tax cuts to the financial elite at the cost of cuts to social programs and other social benefits that benefit the working class of America. One thing Trump and other Conservatives attempted to remove from the existing Affordable Care Act (ACA) law the provision that covers people with pre-existing medical conditions to acquire medical insurance (a certain death sentence for tens of thousands of Americans).

The private penitentiary system of incarceration is another example of a mechanism of Conflict Theory. Wealthy owners of private penitentiaries profit immensely from higher incarceration rates that political Conservatives such as Donald Trump help propagate. The jailing of Americans for decades for non-violent crimes such as minor drug offenses (e.g. possession), by passing associated legislation, is the politician’s direct connection to ensuring higher incarceration rates of non-violent criminals. Millions of lower and middle-class Americans were manipulated, mostly via various media, into electing Trump. Ironically, this is a man who has an absolutely self-serving political agenda, and who has no regard for their wellbeing unless it benefited him also (empty campaign promises aside). Donald Trump only wishes to help himself and other millionaires and billionaires achieve even more wealth (to the detriment of the working class). The recent 1.5 Trillion dollar tax cut for corporations is an example of President Trump’s elite serving agenda. Trump relies on the debatable premise that tax cuts on the wealthy elite “trickles down” (Trickle Down Theory) to the working class through the higher employment rates that the tax cuts stimulate. The actual reality of the tax cut was that a lot of corporations bought back their own stocks and made other selfish investments that actually did not stimulate any additional job growth.

A popular misconception among political scholars has been that income inequality is the major and biggest issue in American elections. However, in recent elections, the subject of race has become the biggest source of influence. Statistical analysis has proven that Barrack Obama would not have won his two presidential campaigns without massive African-American support. Politicians seemingly know the significance of the race factor as well. In 2000, Republican associates spread a false rumor that Senator John McCain had fathered an illegitimate African-American child. John McCain also referred to the Confederate flag as a “symbol of heritage.” McCain later apologized and admitted that he said that merely in search of votes. More recently, Donald Trump made very controversial comments after the white supremacy rally in Charlottesville and Virginia, where an innocent woman was ran over by a white supremacist sympathizer and killed. Trump’s remark about the sad affair was: “you also had people that were very fine people on both sides…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltQlfhcoUa4 This was an unambiguous endorsement of white hate groups by Trump. Such racist statements helped Trump win significant white non-college educated voters’ support in his election campaign1.

The race factor in politics is a well-known reality and strategy in the American Republican party. The Republicans have been trying to suppress black voters’ turnout in elections for decades. The Voting Rights Act or VRA was an elaborate effort by Democrats to help eliminate various factors that suppress black voter turnout in elections. Section 2 of the VRA quotes the American constitution which states that it is forbidden to discriminate against a person’s ability to vote based on race or color. “Then in the Supreme Court case City vs. Bolden, the court ruled that in such disputes of black voter suppression that the plaintiff must prove that racial based discrimination was purposeful and intentional” (Chill, 2018, p.716). Then in response to the Bolden case, the Supreme Court amended that previous ruling to state that any discriminatory practice was unlawful, regardless of whether it was intentionally discriminatory or not (Chill, 2018). Another race-based political strategy used by Republicans is called voter dilution. Minority voters (who historically consistently vote Democrat) can have their votes “diluted” in two ways. The first is known as “Fracturing,” which is the spreading of the localized population of minority votes over two or more voting districts by re-designation of district borders. The other dilution strategy is called “Packing,” which involves over concentrating minority voters into a lesser amount of voting districts thereby reducing minority electoral powers (by reducing the amount of political delegates, their numbers allow them to elect)” (Chill, 2018, p. 717).

Presently, there is mounting evidence against Trump suggesting that he may be a Russian agent. Perhaps, the suggestion farfetched, but one cannot stop imagining that it may also be true. However, a fact that can no longer be denied is Trump’s working on a deal to build a Trump Tower in Russian, while he was still in the middle of his presidential campaign. This is an illegal act of conflict of interest. This makes a clear case that Trump likely made some sort of agreements with Russia in order to expedite the approval and construction of Trump Tower in Russia. It has been widely shown that part of the agreement Trump made or attempted to make involved Trump removing economic sanctions currently imposed on Russia, a move that would have positive economic consequences in Russia’s favour amounting to billions and even trillions of dollars.

Adams (2018) cites the United States’ intelligence agencies’ reports on the activity of a Russian firm known as the Internet Research Agency, which was engaged in an information warfare against the United States. In addition, former Director of Intelligence, James Clapper amended his earlier assessments of Russia and Trump, by stating that the Russian Interference tilted the elections in Trump’s favor. It is also well known that Trump and many of his personal business interests are heavily in debt. This fact helps explain why President Trump is seemingly “for sale to the highest bidder.” It is not unlikely that President Trump is using his time in the White House and all his presidential resources to do favors for other foreign governments and wealthy individuals that he may cash in on at a later date, especially, when he is no longer president. This money and debt trail explains Trump’s desperate need to be president at any cost and by any means necessary such as his frequent lying and misleading statements, use of racist imagery and propaganda, and patronizing Russian internet firms. The U.S. constitution also makes is at least unclear if it is even possible to indict a sitting president with Federal charges; so Trump may need to win his re-election in 2020 in order to avoid jail term and numerous other financial consequences (investigations into criminal tax fraud on his businesses are now underway).

To the uneducated and often uninformed, Trump’s appeal came in the form of his unhindered and provocative way he spoke. Trump broke behavioral norms with impunity and charted new territory (apparent) without flinching. Trump nourished and nurtured grudges real or imagined, threatened to get even with those who had done the “real America” wrong and wrapped it all in a thinly-veiled coded racist nostalgic appeal to “make America great again”
(Anderson, 2017, p.41).

Racism was not the total extent of Trump’s elaborate attempts to divide groups of people. Trump also made crudely sexist remarks regularly on the campaign trail. Trump mocked Supreme Court Justice (Democratic leaning) Ruth Ginsberg’s physical appearance saying, “What does she weight? Like 60 pounds?” Trump also said at a rally, “Look at that face [political opponent Carly Fiorina]… Would anyone vote for that?” (Adams, p.86) Sadly also, his appeal to white supremacists and white nationalists also resonated with Evangelical Christians who helped Trump win the election.

Conclusion

Trump is beginning to bear the consequences of the lies and crimes he has apparently committed. The overwhelming amount of evidence that has already publicly surfaced is likely just the beginning as Democrats recently won control of the U.S. House of Representatives which gave them vast investigatory powers (in addition to the power of federal subpoena). Based on what evidence has already surfaced via the Robert Mueller investigation, it is likely that Trump will either be impeached or at least suffer crippling economic penalties to his businesses for tax crimes once he leaves office and no longer has the legal protection of the presidency. If Trump indeed did win the presidency as a result of Russian interference then he will also be punished for that collusion also. It appears that Trump is going to be found guilty of obstruction of justice. If Trump and his supporters think he is innocent, then why all the attempts to hide the truth? In any case, Trump won the election by stoking racial division among Americans. Even if the Russians did influence some votes, the racist divide was definitely the tipping point. Does this much racism actually exist or was it just fabricated and flamed by Russian social media influence? In any case, race was the largest determining factor of Trumps presidential win.

References
Adams, A. A. (2018). A Bully in the Pulpit vs. The Hillary Monster and Feminization. The Journal of Psychohistory,
Vol. 46, pp. 19-80.
Anderson, M. (2017). Trump’s Appeal to Myth and the 2016 Presidential Election. The Journal of Psychohistory,
Vol. 45, pp. 4-41.
CNBC. (2017, August 15). President Donald Trump on Charlottesville: You Had Very Fine People, on Both Sides
[Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmaZR8E12bs
Crowson, H.M. & Brandes, J. A. (2017). Differentiating Between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Voters Using
Facets of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social-Dominance Orientation: A Brief Report. Psychological Reports,
Vol. 120 pp. 364-373.
Johnson, S. J. (2017). Donald Trump, Disruptive Technologies, and Twitter’s Role in the 2016 American
Presidential Election. Widener Commonwealth Law Review, Vol. 27, pp. 39-80.
Schrieffer, B. F. (2018). Understanding White Polarization in the 2016 Vote for President: The Sobering Role of
Racism and Sexism. Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 133(No.1), pp. 9-31.
Ware, A. (2016). Donald Trump’s Hijacking of the Republican Party in Historical Perspective. The Political
Quarterly, Vol. 87 (July-September 2016), pp. 406-414.

About the Author: John Hendrickson has lived in The Pas, Manitoba his whole life and enjoys spending his free time in Winnipeg when he is not working or in school. John is a long-time competitor in the Northern Manitoba Trappers Festival in the King Trapper competition. John is working towards a career in nursing at UCN and just completed his first year of studies. “I credit and dedicate all my success and happiness in life so far to my loving father Terrence. We lost Terry to cancer this past December.” Terry loved all types of people and all types of people loved him. John is looking forward to continuing his healthcare studies this fall.

Instructor’s Remarks: John Hendrickson was one of my outstanding students in my Introductory to Sociology 1005 and 1006 classes of Term 20 and 30 respectively in the 2018-2019 academic year. John is brilliant in applying his sociological imagination to explore current social and political issues, particularly in North America. In this article, he attempts to explore Donald Trumps’ Political Success in the 2016 U.S. elections from the perspective of Hate speech and Racism – Dr. Amos Nkrumah