The Department of Political Science Discuss the How and Why of Donald Trump
KPU’s best and brightest assembled to answer, “What is going on?”
What does it say about a man when a panel of academics at a university in another country get together to try and understand his popularity?
On March 22, Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s department of political science had a round-table discussion about Donald Trump. At the event, professors Ross Pink, Gregory Millard, and Noemi Gal-Or ruminate on what Trump did to get where he is, as well as the circumstances which surround his unprecedented rise in American politics.
Pink began the proceedings discussing about how he believes Trump’s success is largely based on appealing to America’s “dying middle class.” Pink claims that Trump, along with fellow candidate Bernie Sanders, have made the 2016 presidential race the “season of the outsider,” as both politicians capitalize on middle America’s frustration with the traditional Washington establishment.
Mallard spoke about the ideological phenomenon that Trump projects. He counters the claims that Trump is an “ideological moderate” or an “actual fascist,” and instead labels him as an “authoritarian populist.” Trump, he claims, has both left and right leanings in the political spectrum, and pulls from both sides of the fence to appeal to a large audience.
Despite this, Millard does not think it appropriate to label Trump a moderate. Likewise he believes the term fascist is not correctly applied to Trump, as he isn’t a nationalist in the traditional sense. So what label does he give the man? Millard believes Trump to be an “opportunist” and a “populist.”
Millard claimed that Trump shows himself to be a populist by “vesting authority in himself by showing how strong he is,” and thereby becomes a sort of “people’s champion.” He takes up the common cause, but also separates himself from others. “Like the schoolyard bully,” Millard says, Trump is getting votes by being the meanest kid on the block—who’s also willing to look out for the average voter.
Gal-Or outlined the historical context of Trump’s popularity, and how similar things have happened in the past. She believes it’s “nothing outstanding or different” and that it hadn’t yet happened in America. She traces the history from fascism in Europe during WWI, through to modern-day leaders who share ideologies with Trump.
The reason for Trump’s success, as Gal-Or sees it, is that he’s the outlet for a lot of people’s unease and anxiety. She argued that many of Trump’s supporters are white, middle class, industrialists who are afraid of change. The biggest worry seems to be that with Trump on the rise, there could be a “drop in democracy” and a “rise in autocracy” all over the world. Although this isn’t entirely dependent on Trump, Gl-Or believes America could set an unfortunate example.
