Ableism and the Trump phenomenon

This article argues that Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 US presidential campaign was abetted by ableism, both directly, through Trump’s rhetoric, and indirectly, through the ableist culture and infrastructure of the rural, white working-class communities that turned the election for Trump. The article uses Robert McRuer’s account of ‘compulsory able-bodiedness’ to situate Trump’s popularity in relation to the neoliberal policies that have marginalized and stigmatized the white working class, and deploys Lennard Davis’s account of normalcy to explain why Trump’s own bodily difference was widely, and hypocritically, mocked by the left, and also why Trump’s ‘non-normative’ embodiment appealed to his white working-class supporters.     

The more attacks,the more retweets: Trump’s and Clinton’s agenda setting on Twitter

The present study aims to contribute to the agenda setting theory and political campaign literature by examining candidates’ tweets and their effects on voter reactions in the context of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Content analysis of Donald Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s 3-month tweets (N = 1575) revealed that half of their tweets were attacks, and those attacks were effective in attracting favorites and retweets for both candidates. Their tweets reflected their issue agendas highlighted on campaign websites, and they mainly emphasized issues owned by their parties in both venues. Some of the issues Trump stressed in his tweets (i.e., media bias and Clinton’s alleged dishonesty) drew significantly more favorites and retweets, suggesting public agenda setting possibilities through Twitter. None of the issues Clinton emphasized were significant predictors of favorites and retweets. However, visual elements such as pictures and videos were effective in bringing voter reactions for Clinton. While Clinton sent twice as many tweets as Trump did during the three months, Trump’s tweet received in average three times as many favorites and retweets as Clinton’s. Overall, the results show that Trump was more successful than Clinton in drawing public attention to preferred issues through Twitter.     

Fake News Is Real: The Significance and Sources of Disbelief in Mainstream Media in Trump’s America

Are appeals to discredit mainstream media reporting of political news in the guise of “fake news” merely a diversion from more fundamental threats to democratic politics and policymaking? Or is the emerging belief in “fake news” itself a looming threat? Using data from the Voter Study Group’s panel survey, we examine the relationship between disbelief in mainstream media and a wide range of social attitudes and policy preferences. We find that in December 2016, just after Trump’s election, belief in fake news wields an outsized influence, independent of partisanship, ideology, media consumption, and other established foundations of public opinion. The effects of fake news beliefs are especially pronounced on key elements of Trump’s rhetoric as candidate and as president—hostility toward immigrants, racial and religious minorities, gender equality, perceptions of America’s “greatness,” and even support for democratic norms and institutions itself. We also find some evidence that by January 2019, the belief in fake news has become even more focally associated with Trump. These findings portend the possibility of an emerging exclusionary, populist variant of American conservatism, of which disbelief in media institutions is a key component.     

Media use and political learning: Comparing Trump supporters to celebrity candidate voters

This study examines whether political media use behaviors of voters who supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election align with those of “celebrity candidate voters” portrayed in the literature. The study used a national online survey (N = 1,608) conducted during the 2016 primary, and findings reveal that Trump supporters, more than other voters, are driven by entertainment motivations and follow campaign news using entertainment media: specifically, the video-sharing site YouTube. Although Trump voters are interested in the campaign, their level of political knowledge is lower than other voters, and no one media outlet made a significant contribution to their learning. A comparison group of other voters showed significant knowledge gains from news websites and Twitter. Results for Trump voters are consistent with scholars’ characterization of the celebrity candidate audience, particularly in studies suggesting that celebrity politicians may increase citizens’ engagement through entertainment gratifications rather than by a desire to become informed.     

Event-related clinical distress in college students: Responses to the 2016 U.S. Presidential election

Abstract

Objectives: College students have cited the 2016?U.S. presidential election as a significant source of stress. The current study examined the prevalence and demographic correlates of clinically significant election-related avoidance and intrusion symptoms among college students 2–3?months after the election. Participants: College students attending a large public university (N?=?769; M_age?=?19.19; 48.2% female; 58.4% White) were surveyed in January and February 2017. Methods: Participants completed a validated measure of clinically significant event-related distress symptoms (eg, intrusive thoughts, avoidance) and demographic questions. Results: One out of four students met criteria for clinically significant symptoms related to the election. Regression analyses suggested that sex, political party, religion, and perceived impact of the election on relationships were more useful predictors of stress symptoms than race or social class. Conclusions: The high level of event-related distress is concerning because elevated symptoms of event-related stress are predictive of future distress and subsequent PTSD diagnoses.     

The End of the World as We Know It?: American Exceptionalism in an Age of Disruption

This essay explores the recent election of President Donald J. Trump against the background of the idea of American exceptionalism. It posits that there have been a variety of versions of the notion of exceptionalism, one of which involves the question, “Why is there no fascism in the United States?” It argues that Trump may render invalid the assumption behind that question and that at best during his tenure we are likely to have a continuation of the “bad exceptionalism” associated with the question, “Why is there no socialism in the United States?”     

Ending Sexual Harassment: Protecting the Progress of #MeToo

ABSTRACT

How can we best protect and safeguard the progress of the #MeToo movement? This article presents 11 reforms designed to ensure the movement’s drive toward justice. These fall into three areas. The first concern process reforms designed to (a) protect all those involved—accusers and the accused—in investigations of sexual harassment, (b) end differential treatment of those found guilty, and (c) ensure punishments are commensurate with the crime and proportional in terms of other transgressors. The second set of reforms focus on transparency of the process, including clarifying (a) how to file charges, (b) who makes decisions, (c) relevant public information on how charges and procedures are followed, (d) what transgressions result in which punishments, and (e) how complaints are investigated to protect the rights and privacy of all. Finally, I address cultural issues that address (a) our portrayal of women, (b) our societal attempts to prepare young people so they can better protect themselves, and (c) attempts to encourage bystanders to intervene in the face of sexual harassment of others.     

President Trump vs. CEOs: a comparison of presidential and corporate agenda building

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to compare the agenda-building influence of President Trump and CEOs in communicating about a number of political and social issues. Through a content analysis of the president’s (N = 63) and business leaders’ (N = 234) information subsidies and news coverage (N = 270), evidence was found repeatedly supporting the president’s first, second, and third levels of agenda-building influence on news media content. In comparison, CEOs’ agenda-building influence was found at the first and third levels, and this influence was not consistent across issues. Furthermore, an argument was made in light of the study’s findings that direct communication by business leaders generally had a more significant impact on the media agenda than indirect messages from other organizational actors such as their companies or corporate spokespeople.     

Feminists Say

ABSTRACT

With appropriated objections by Cassandra Seltman, Vanessa Place cross-examines the #MeToo movement.     

POPULAR SUPPORT FOR TRADE AGREEMENTS AND PARTNER COUNTRY CHARACTERISTICS: EVIDENCE FROM AN UNEXPECTED ELECTION OUTCOME

Using quasi‐experimental data from a survey that was conducted immediately before and after the November 2016 presidential election, we analyze how the election of Donald Trump affected the willingness of Europeans to sign a trade and investment agreement with the United States. We find that the election outcome lead to an immediate and sizable negative effect on Europeans' image of the United States. But we do not find that, at the same time, there was a negative reaction in the willingness of Europeans to sign an agreement with the United States. (JEL F14, F55, C26, F50)     

What’s not to Like?: A Qualitative Study of Young Women Politicians’ Self-Framing on Twitter

ABSTRACT

Twitter provides women politicians with a platform for practising political public relations and the opportunity to circumvent traditional barriers to their visibility. To explore how young women use Twitter to frame themselves during election campaigns, this study undertook a thematic analysis of tweets sent by politicians Nikki Kaye and Jacinda Ardern during New Zealand’s 2014 general election campaign. A likability frame dominated their messaging, supported by subsidiary frames of the busy local MP and the relational politician. Choices of interpersonal and intimized situations showcased these attributes. Although the messaging was arguably effective, there are longer-term consequences for women with respect to the likability/competence double bind. Further and systematic incorporation of gender into the field of political public relations would strengthen this emerging discipline and add value to existing research around women’s electoral viability.     

Invited Article: “You are Not Welcome Here!” Understanding News Coverage of Central American Migrant Families in Trump’s America

ABSTRACT

The influx of Central American families fleeing gang violence in the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras has captured the attention of the government, citizens, and the media and has created a crisis of its own leading to strong rhetoric and policy changes from the current U.S. administration led by Donald Trump. This study conducts a textual analysis of 35 stories published by The New York Times about the Central American migrant crisis between January of 2016 and mid-May of 2019 and identifies four categories of content: New kinds of migrants at the U.S. border, the Central American migrant crisis, the Trump administration’s approach to the crisis, and critique of Trump policy. Sub-categories were also developed for three of these categories. The findings indicate that there has been a shift in the type of migrant who tries to cross the border or seek asylum in the United States. Instead of undocumented single men migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, there are now Central American migrant families displaced by the gang violence in Central America. The stories analyzed in this study highlight the changes to U.S. border and immigration policy partly in response to changes in migration patterns caused by this crisis.     

Mentoring,Sexual Harassment,and Black Women Academics

ABSTRACT

The #MeToo Movement both within academia and popular culture has largely been seen as an issue for white women (and men). While the phrase Me Too was originally coined by Tarana Burke in 2006 to raise public awareness of sexual harassment, violence and assault experienced by women of color, the Movement has largely been whitewashed by primarily depicting victims and survivors as white women. Black women academics, like myself, also experience sexual harassment. By highlighting the ways that race-based sexual harassment further marginalizes already underrepresented groups in political science, I use my personal story to elucidate how a gender-only lens misses the complexities of Black women’s experiences with power inequities in academia. Throughout this narrative I underscore the importance of mentorship, professional networks, and the ability to harness scholarship as a vehicle to combat the pervasiveness of sexual harassment, violence, and assault for Black women in political science.     

Twitter,incivility, and presidential communication: A theoretical incursion into spectacle and power

ABSTRACT

By approaching civility as an operational logic for democracy, we ask how incivility is a strategy related to power and domination, particularly from the president of the United States. We propose that Twitter is part of an infrastructure of incivility, through which structures and discursive mechanisms contribute to a devaluation of normative democratic discourses. Spectacle provides a theoretical framework to contextualize the forces at play in mediating our relations. Using President Trump’s Twitter use as a case study, we offer four propositions that together formulate a framework for theorizing the strategic use and deployment of incivility as an increasingly legitimate, yet problematic tool for democratic governance.     

National Politics,Neighborly Politics: How Trump’s Election Impacted a Black and White Detroit Community

Most research on right-wing populism has tried to explain the rise of populist movements and parties. While some have studied how neighborhood contexts and histories shape voting patterns, few have examined what happens locally after votes are cast. This article draws on three years of ethnographic research while the author lived in Brightmoor, a majority black, minority white poor depopulated Detroit neighborhood, to show how Trump’s politics shaped local expressions and experiences of racism. First, I show how white Trump supporters expressed distinct approaches to xenophobic ethnonationalism and racial politics. Trump’s surge empowered many to broadcast anti-immigrant sentiments, while they continued to put interactional and discursive work into not being seen as racist. Many also applied a “Trump lens” to local interactions and geographies and rendered minorities salient under Trump politics hypervisible. Second, I show how black residents equated xenophobic ethnonationalism with antiblack racism: seeing through pro-Trump whites’ attempts to separate these. Some also applied a new “Trump lens” to interactions and geographies, using the category of Trump voter and a sense of the voting map to anticipate and make sense of racist interactions. This article offers new insights into the local impacts of a national surge in right-wing populism.     

The Formative Power of Metony#metoo

ABSTRACT

What can we learn about #MeToo starting with a formal analysis of its structure? What does the linguistic affirmation of adding one “me” to another “me” ad infinitum create in its powerful drift? This metonymical structure, moving part by part, creates the wildfire spread of the movement, adding to its volatility, including its power against institutional structures that trade more in identity, the stability of an “I,” and the self-preservation of metaphor. This little fragment that we name in this regard “metony#metoo” aims to point to and name a primal scene that is both the open secret of misogynistic violence and the pain and impossibility of sexual relationships. Putting these two together, this volatile structure that points to and exposes structural violence, we ask in this essay—where will we land? What further invention beyond the vent of venting is necessary to help lend this movement an ethical dimension?     

Productive uses of nostalgia in contemporary Slovak fiction: Veronika Šikulová’s and Maroš Krajňak’s experiments with generational memory

This essay examines fictional uses of generational memory and life writing in Veronika ?ikulová’s Miesta v sieti (Dwellings in the web) and Maro? Krajňak’s Carpathia and argues that the representations of the past in these contemporary Slovak novels provide alternatives to pernicious nationalist forms of nostalgia that have been of particular concern in the country in recent years, especially in the aftermath of the 2016 election, in which the neo-Nazi People’s Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) won 8% of the vote and seats in the Slovak Parliament. The essay examines representations of time and pastoral borderland spaces in each novel, arguing that the writers’ treatment of nostalgia challenges existing theories of the phenomenon as a form of maladaptation. The novels ultimately suggest a productive compromise between restorative and reflective forms of nostalgia, which is a central distinction in Svetlana Boym’s influential theory of post-socialist nostalgia. The novels’ ultimate achievement is that they avoid the extremes of sentimentality and irony in their treatment of the past and suggest visions of collective identity that provide a counterpoint to nationalist idealizations of the past.     

Credibility or Credulity? Examining Political Organization-Public Relationships in an Election of Interloping Candidates

ABSTRACT

This national online survey (N = 493) examined the political organization-public relationship (POPR) that voters perceived with their own political party and their opposing political party, as well as voters’ assessment of the credibility of candidates running for president during the primary season of the 2016 election. Results indicated that although credibility assessment of one’s own party’s candidate was much as expected, POPR with the Democratic Party was generally stronger than that with the Republican Party. Data showed no evidence that a poor POPR with one’s own party would drive voters to support interloper candidates. We conclude by reflecting on the importance of POPR with the opposing party and what weak relationships may mean for parties in the long term.     

A novel way of responding to dissonance evoked by belief disconfirmation: making the wrongdoing of an opponent salient

ABSTRACT

Based on dissonance theory, we predicted that individuals who supported a political figure (Donald Trump), were exposed to information about his wrongdoings, and believed the veracity of this information would be most likely to share social media that points to incidents in which opponents also engaged in wrongdoing. Participants (N = 409) varying in their support for Trump were exposed to information concerning his alleged wrongdoings (or a neutral article). They viewed a meme of a political rival (Hilary Clinton) that alluded to her alleged wrongdoings, and reported how likely they would be to share the meme (and indicated how accurate they believed the Trump article was). Results supported the prediction, suggesting that dissonance may cause individuals to emphasize the wrongdoings of opponents.