US Elections 2020

Trumpism and Democracy in the US

Why despite Donald Trump’s exit will still keep Trumpism alive? Will 46th POTUS Joe Biden be able to unite the country?

Trumpism is not a word defined in the age-old dictionary but came into existence in the last five years. It cannot be restricted to a single word but a set of ideas which ex-US President Donald Trump has gifted this world as he leaves the post of presidency.

Many blame Donald Trump as the main culprit for Capitol Seige on 6th January. They have their own reasons for that, but as many believe everyone wishes to highlight that single speech before the incident as a highlight for inciting the violence, he didn’t. This process was happening for the past four years through his words and actions which we know as “Trumpism”.

We will be looking into various factors which led to the rise of Trumpism or Donald Trump’s populist politics.

Trump’s entry to Politics

He is a person without any prior political experience nor from any political background. Despite that, he had shown interest in politics for a very long time. It was in 2011, during the White House Correspondents Dinner, where Seth Meyers had taken a jibe at him saying he will run for presidency with GOP Ticket.

He was known for being an outsider as he is not a member of the Washington political establishment. As an outsider, he tried to bring an impression that everything is not so right in Washington and those need a change. He was a sensation on media and social media. He had received massive public support especially from the rural areas and working class. He took sharp criticism on his opponents especially in the Democratic party and also members of the GOP who oppose him. He was also a vivid user of social media and used it for his propaganda.

Trump’s Presidency

One of the most peculiar parts of his presidency was the lack of civility in the post he held. That was not supposed to be how presidents or heads of states were expected to behave. Coming to his policies, he pursued conservative social policies and liberal economic policies. Most of it was an extreme version of what GOP stands for. Coming to international relations, he pursued an isolationist policy which was started by Obama but later continued it to a scale that even Russia and China saw big opportunities. He replaced the ideological form of relationship with the allies with a transactional form of relationship. This caused massive harm to US foreign policy.

Within first few days, he withdrew out of multilateral agreements, tried to undo Obama’s legacy, etc. He essentially tried to put business deals, economics ahead of other priorities. Trump’s family was brought much closer to activities of government and the Oval Office like never before.

He was not comfortable with how things functioned in the DC. and tried to rebel against it. He fired the officials working under him, made irritating press conferences, talked ill about people whom he didn’t like, and for all these, he chose Twitter as his biggest weapon. He used massive lies to propagate his ideas and get support. He had said that Mexico will pay for the wall, which never happened. He lied to people that a trade war with China will benefit the USA. He falsely claimed that climate change is a hoax spread by China. He pulled himself out of the Iran Nuclear Deal falsely claiming that it is developing a nuclear weapon.

Read about Iranian Nuclear Deal

The big damage he has done here is to undermine his post for petty politics back at home, which going to give him votes. Another strategy used by populist leaders is to lie too much that even these lie may feel true to many. That is where democracy begins to fail. Turkey, Hungary and Russia followed the same path. He tried to appoint his own aides in the courts believing that they will support him when needed. Trump tried to misuse his power believing that he is the president and he is above all the institutions in the country.

The countless number of officials were fired, most of them resigned, he was impeached once in 2019 and later in 2021.

Trump still believes that he won the elections and that the Washington establishment wants to keep him away. He tried to make this election about himself and not a democratic process. Even today millions of Americans still believe that Donald Trump is the president for four more years. He made people believe that democracy is only about elections and public support but not the great institutions and values this country has stood for. On the other hand, millions of Americans were ready to move to Canada if Trump was ever re-elected.

Read election result analysis for 2020

Trumpism and its threat to Democracy

Democracy dies in darkness- is the motto of Washington Post. It is true and we know that. We saw the world’s most powerful democratic nation on the verge of being a semi-dictatorial state this year. It just took four years, for a person who has no faith in anything but himself and his base to turn this country into a dangerous division. Despite all the odds, he managed to secure 74 Million votes which are the largest for a Republican candidate. Following are the methods in which Trumpism tried to assault the democracy:

1. An assault on democratic voice- i.e. is to take aim at media who are doing their job and dump them as fake news, anti-national, etc. Silencing them is an easy way how dictatorships thrive.
2. Divide and rule people- Make slogans and force people to choose extreme sides. Trump claimed Democrats to be radical lefts and socialists. He stamped the BLM movement to be a violent one backed by Democrats to overthrow him. He made people choose him over the others making their choices futile. He also tried to portray himself to be the main saviour of conservatives, whites and nationalists.
3. The third method is flattering with nationalism and military- For his personal popularity and for strengthening his politics. We can see that in India after Pulwama attacks and in Turkey where it is destroying its secular value with the help of nationalism.
4. Appease the majority, ride on their sentiments and induce in them a minority complex- In the US, Trump wants to portray that their country stands for conservatism and white supremacy. So, we want whites to believe that a handful of blacks fighting for their rights are fighting against the white majority and they seek their dominance. Similarly in India, we can see how the Hindu majority (80%)is forced to believe that they will be a minority in a few years and the Muslim minority (15%) will overpower them. Similarly, 95% of Turkey’s population is made to believe that Secularism is hurting their identity. All of these are farse.
5. Lack of inaction on the critical issues, undermining and discrediting science- POTUS is popular across the globe for his inaction on Covid-19 pandemic. Since February, he underplayed and trivialised the virus only to get himself infected. Even after 400,000 deaths of fellow Americans and having the highest number of cases in the world, there are no concrete steps taken by the administration to curb the surging cases. He wants to take credits for development of vaccine but won’t accept his failure in putting his country on alert.
6. Call out opponents as the enemies of the land- Before 2016, Donald Trump had deemed Obama to be an Arab. He also called Joe Biden a Chinese agent and a part of the radical left. He also falsely claimed that China will rejoice Trump’s loss and Biden’s victory.
7. Undermine free and fair elections. Trump mislead the population to claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him despite his own officials and departments contradicting his position. His allegations of voted fraud were based on mere conspiracy theories which he himself couldn’t prove. As per the claims, it should have merely ended there. But with his selfish interests, he continued to pursue his tactics to overturn the election results in several states through crooked means. He also undermined the authenticity and value of postal ballots. Even before the US Congress session was called to certify the results, He decided never to concede the election and still expected his subordinate VP Mike Pence to go in his favour. Just a few days before that he called and threatened the Georgia Secretary of State to find him 11,000 votes just to help him overturn the result in the state.
8. The last resort which kills democracy in the true sense- That was nothing but undermining the US’s institutions like CIA, FBI, US Congress, the Supreme Court, US postal service, US military, state governors, etc. and also the extreme case of misuse of power. He even tried to make appointments of his own close affiliates to the respective courts. He involved his son Donald Trump Jr, daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jerad Kushner in Government matters.
9. The extensive use of social media for spreading fake news and misinformation- His biggest weapon was social media. He never said anything in the proper way. Instead, he focused on platforms like Twitter and Facebook to increase his popularity. Since hate spreads faster, he became the most followed person. The standards of the usage were not matching that of a President. He used them like personal handles. He hired and fired officials on Twitter. He tweeted “LAW AND ORDER” multiple times referring to BLM while hypocritically did nothing during “Capitol Insurrection”.
10. Preventing a peaceful transition of power and not protecting democracy- Joe Biden was denied the proper privilege of transition until there was looming pressure on the same. Even the last two weeks of Trump’s presidency was marred with controversies and chaos in the country. Even after losing, Secretary Mike Pompeo was busy pursuing a unique last-minute foreign policy tactic making it problematic and complicating for upcoming Biden administration. This includes Middle East policy change, damaging relations with Cuba and China.

Just a day before the inauguration, Trump rejected a government jet for Joe Biden to travel from Delaware to DC. He had to come in a chartered flight and land in Maryland. This is what is happening to the president-elect of the world’s oldest democracy. Trump informed that he won’t be attending Biden’s inauguration. He broke the democratic tradition of this country, just for his own selfish ego. He even refused to call Joe Biden by his name as well for the past two months. It just shows that he has no respect for this country or its great history.

Implications of Trumpism

A violent mob believing in falsehoods, fake news and conspiracies and who themselves call others fake news stormed into the Capitol Hill as per the instructions of the President and his close officials like Rudy Giuliani. He had requested the mob to do the trial by combat. Trump asked them to march down the Pennsylvania avenue and fight like hell. Earlier he had a spat with the vice president and other members of the Senate regarding the certification of results.

We all believe that the above examples happened only because of the speech he did on that day right? Never. The incident was a just mirror of the last four years. Even the investigation shows that much of it was already planned and well-executed. Everything happened gradually in the past four years only to be blown out on 5th January. Trump and his allies were adding fuel to the fire throughout the period. Even now his base believes that Trump won the election and they may not be ready to accept the results at any cost. Trump might keep the base intact and run for president again in 2024. Same people who believed that Trump is a pathological liar and who will destroy the Republican party supported him in his efforts to destroy democracy at the end of his term.

People are losing faith in institutions. Election officials, courts, their representatives, Senators, Governors, etc. Political opponents are becoming their enemies. Those who criticise him are reacted with harsh language and removed from their positions. Senators and Congressmen are attacked for discharging their duties. Even the vice-president himself was under danger.

The country is now extremely fractured and it is clear like never ever before. The urban-rural divide, the Republican-Democrat divide, the White-Black divide, rich-poor divide, the Pro-Trump-Anti-Trump divide, Conservative-Liberal divide, etc. are putting the country at extreme danger. The reason for that also is how Trump has been able to divide the society through his extreme tactics as part of his divide and rule politics.

In the last two months, he did nothing for the country rather just wasted those days trying to overturn the elections with lawsuits, fighting over social media and a lot more. He could have used that time to enumerate his success and make a mark in history but never did that. He chose to spend time on social media and playing golf.

Everything we saw happened so suddenly but at the same time, step by step in the last four years. Trumpism is a real threat.

How US Institutions and the system fought back against Trumpism?

First and foremost we need to understand that the system was alive and kicking at all times. It is that we didn’t recognise it. Let us look in detail how the system fought back.

1. Voters of America gave a decisive and strong mandate- On November 3rd 2020, we saw the largest voter turnout and elected Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. Despite the claims of voter fraud and stolen elections, Biden got around 81 million votes. This is the highest voter turnout despite pandemic as well as the highest number of votes for winning candidate.
2. Bringing back civility back to politics- As we have discussed before, Donald Trump is not from the establishment thus there was a lack of civility. But, through the presidential elections, we can clearly see that it was Joe Biden who has nearly a half-decade of experience in public administration and also as a two-term vice president. He has won against Donald Trump which shows that people are ready to choose a person who has the experience, good ideals, proper policy-based and goal-oriented person.
3. Strengthening of Media- Despite attacks from Donald Trump or from the conservatives, the media has stood strong against the injustices happening in the country. It has fought Donald Trump’s fake claims of fraudulent elections, asked tough questions, stood with the Institutions and the system of the country.
4. Bringing back faith in the system and science- With the election of Joe Biden what most people expect is to restore the normalcy pre-2016 which means return back to the system, the faith in institutions, etc. Biden will also be expected to fight the pandemic using science.
5. Free and fair elections- We can see that Dept. of Homeland Security, CIA, Postal Services, election officials in 50 states, governors, etc. all confirm that this election was free and fair, safe and legitimate. Thus we have no doubt that Joe Biden won and Donald Trump lost.
6. Strengthening of the courts and the judiciary- With the claims of voter frauds and stolen elections, Trump and his allies knocked on the door of several courts. State after state, court after court, these legal suits were thrown out as they didn’t have any concrete proof. Even the Republican-appointed judges didn’t support his efforts to turned down elections.
7. Acting against violence- The entire world saw the insurrection in the Capitol building. No one anticipated this because this has never happened in America before. But despite the plot and violence the police and National Guard under the command of the vice president was able to drive out the rioters within 3–4 hours. The troops fought back. Soon after that Joint session of the US Congress convened and later certified the electoral college votes. Senators and Representatives together certified it.
8. Social Media takes charge- Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram have taken charge and suspended Donald Trump’s account for violation of Terms of Usage and policies of the space.
9. Impeachment- The House of Representatives impeached POTUS Donald Trump not only once but twice. For that, multiple members of the Republican party had also supported his second impeachment which was initiated after the Capitol Hill riots.
10. Cleansing within GOP- A large number of Republican party members were critical of Trump before he stood for 2016 elections. But after that GOP grew under Trumpism and even gained the House and Senate majority then. At present post-Donald Trump’s loss in elections, infighting grew within the party with respect to the future. Old veterans including Mitt Romney, Mitchel McConnel, George Bush, etc. have been critical of Trump’s refusal to accept the elections. They are also holding him responsible for the rights and pressure for his termination is growing. Such Republicans who are outraged because Trumpism has destroyed Republican values had formed a massive group called Republicans for Biden. Most of the lawmakers support Biden’s call for unity as well trial and conviction of Donald Trump in Senate.

With all these, we can see that the American system is far more intact, alive and kicking.

Read about the American system

Why Trumpism is here to stay?

Donald Trump may have left the Office but we must remember that over 74 Million voters have chosen him. So the majority of the people actually appreciate his policies and vision. We even see this support through social media and how they have turned out in rallies as well. Much of them have been misled regarding the election results. They still believe that Trump won and Biden lost. We need to include them as well. This will indeed be the biggest challenge.

The division between the Left and the Right is at the highest. Despite the US standing for liberal western democratic values, there is a large population who have differences over these. Their problems also need to be addressed. A lot of people fear that the Democratic party is a leftist party and follow socialism. This comes after Bernie Sanders has been nominated as the Budget Chair. This is a fear factor for a majority of the American Right and small businesses.

The big Trumpist topics like Trade, Race and Immigration will still be alive. Biden will be forced to take a stand here. He is pro-immigration, but his trade policy still needs to be figured. With respect to race, he will ensure racial equality but won't go ahead with plans like defunding the police.

The major challenge for democracies around the world is how Trumpism and Populism is penetrating in their population. Russia, China, Turkey, Brazil, UK, India, Philippines etc. are all ruled by strongmen. They have embraced a dictatorial Trumpist characteristic. Even though they don’t do such things in an open democracy, freedom of speech and dissent in all these countries except the UK is in danger. Trumpist policies are getting worldwide attention and we know that negativity will spread faster than positivity thus, these values will spread more easily via both mainstream and social media.

How to care for the future?

We used to believe that democracies thrive forever but that's not true. The transition of India and Turkey to semi-democracies has been quite rapid. China and Russia are at the extreme point of dictatorship ever in the history post-cold-war. The death of democracy is rapid and we must thus ensure that democracy thrives. Joe Biden’s call for unity on the inauguration day is pretty welcome and a really good start.

Increase in right-wing emotional thoughts has seen an exponential increase with the exponential growth of social media in recent years. People are growing less tolerant and social media algorithms help expressive people on the internet to go viral and take an extreme stance. That is what we should vary off. Judicial use of social media, appropriate fact-checking of information, control of propaganda and sensationalisation over the internet should be promoted as well. There is a massive difference between a fact and an opinion, and also between spreading information and misleading others.

Is asking for a change in the system wrong? No, change takes place slowly and there is a process for the same. You can’t storm into the country’s Parliament in the name of change. We are not in the 19th century, there are people to hear you out, there are remedies and you have like-minded people. You can’t see overnight changes in democracy. If you have any allegations or concern on the system followed in the country, you can approach courts given that you have ‘’Proof’’. Mere allegations, slogans and conspiracies don’t make the facts true.

Conclusion

Joe Biden is finally the President of the US but Trump won’t bend his knees. Trumpism is a real threat to our world order, our democratic citizens and we individuals. As expected these ideas get a wider appeal everywhere and we must vary of them. Trumpism is spreading across the globe and is a rising concern to democracies. Protecting democracy is upon us, citizens and individuals of the globalised world.

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