Trumpism is a term for the political ideologies, social emotions, style of governance, political movement, and set of mechanisms for acquiring and keeping control of power associated with Donald Trump and his political roots. Trumpists and Trumpians are terms used to refer to those exhibiting characteristics of Trumpism. Political supporters of Trump are known as Trumpers.
Trumpism started its development before the presidential campaign of Donald Trump in 2016. For many scholars, it denotes a populist political method that suggests nationalistic answers to political, economic, and social problems. These angles are refracted into such policy preferences as immigration restrictionism, trade protectionism, isolationism, and opposition to entitlement reform.
Donald Trump posted about Trumpism on Truth social
Writing for the Routledge Handbook of Global Populism (2019), Olivier Jutel claims, “What Donald Trump reveals is that the various iterations of right-wing American populism have less to do with a programmatic social conservatism or libertarian economics than with enjoyment.”
Referring to the populism of Trump, sociologist Michael Kimmel states that it “is not a theory [or] an ideology, it’s an emotion. And the emotion is righteous indignation that the government is screwing ‘us.'” Kimmel notes that “Trump is an interesting character because he channels all that sense of what I call ‘aggrieved entitlement,'” a term Kimmel defines as “that sense that those benefits to which you believed yourself entitled have been snatched away from you by unseen forces larger and more powerful. You feel yourself to be the heir to a great promise, the American Dream, which has turned into an impossible fantasy for the very people who were supposed to inherit it.”
The First Noted Use of The Word ‘Trumpism’
The term Trumpism is said to be coined by the authors of ‘Trumpism-The Politics of Gender in a Post-Propitious America’, which is also the first known reference to the quasi-religion in print. This book, which is both timely and essential, focuses on the gender implications of the 2016 presidential campaign and Donald J. Trump’s election.
Initial chapters focus on Hillary Clinton’s campaign; Trump’s election victory over a her; Trump’s hyper-masculine posturing; the meaning of the election for marginalised populations; the effect of the election on survivors of sexual assault; and proposed policy solutions. Furthermore, the book includes an appendix of recommended resources for those who want to learn more about the election and its implications in 2016 and beyond.
Capitol Riot 2021- The First Known Demonstration of Trumpism
All religions require a wronged messiah who surpasses the mortal behaviours intrinsic to humans. Trump rose to messiah status through his claims of a rigged presidential election in 2020. The allied benefit of these claims was that it gave Trumpism its antagonist- Joe Biden. Akin to Satan from hell, Biden and his band of anti-Trumpists intend to engulf America in chaos and anarchy. And it’s Almighty Trump’s divine calling to stop that from happening. And of course, all devout Trumpists can’t merely sit back and watch.
Trump rallied thousands of supporters in Washington, D.C., on January 5 and 6 to back his claim that the 2020 election was “stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats” and to demand that Vice President Mike Pence and Congress reject Biden’s victory.
At a “Save America” event on the Ellipse beginning at noon on January 6, Trump repeated unsubstantiated charges of election irregularities and warned, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Thousands of participants walked to the Capitol during and after his speech, and hundreds breached police perimeters as Congress began the electoral vote tally. More than 2,000 protesters stormed the Capitol, occupying, vandalising, and looting it while assaulting Capitol Police.
A gallows was erected west of the Capitol, and rioters screamed “Hang Mike Pence” when he rejected Trump and others’ false assertions that the vice president could alter the election results. Some trashed and robbed the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress.
Due to a breakdown in building security, Capitol Police evacuated and closed down both chambers of Congress as well as several buildings in the Capitol Complex. Rioters took over the empty Senate chamber, as federal officers defended the evacuated House floor. Pipe bombs were discovered at the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters, respectively, while Molotov cocktails were recovered in a car near the Capitol.
Trump refused to dispatch the National Guard to disperse the mob. Later that afternoon, in a Twitter video, he declared the election “fraudulent,” but urged his followers to “go home in peace.” By mid-evening, the Capitol had been cleared of rioters, and the counting of electoral votes had resumed and been finished by the early morning hours of January 7.
Even though the Biden camp survived the electoral vote counting and received his go-ahead to continue his reign of anarchy, the verdict only served the same purpose as Christ’s crucifixion. Trumpism attained renewed consolidation and ‘Make America Great Again’ became the rallying cry for Trumpists.
Trumpists’ communion- Truth Social
Of course, every religion needs a safe space for its practitioners to come together in order to propagate the divine message. This roadblock has also been cleverly dealt with by Trump in the form of Truth Social.
In the days succeeding the Capitol Riot, Trump was evicted by all major social media websites one after the other. Having lost his most powerful megaphones with which he used to communicate with his devout followers, Trump was now in need of a new one.
Also read|Truth Social v. Big Tech- an insight into Trump’s lawsuits
This chain of events lead to the creation of Truth Social, a social media platform meant to advocate ‘free speech’ and ‘cancel Cancel Culture’. This platform has become Trumpists’ hub where they get together, akin to communion on Sundays.
Trump’s first post on Truth Social Media
Former President Donald Trump finally started posting on Truth Social, which is his very own substitute social media platform. He posted his first post. He was not active after the service commenced in mid-February.
“I’M BACK!” Trump posted along with a photo of himself on Truth Social. He also tacked on the hashtag “#COVFEFE” at the end of the post. He posted this post as a reference to the bizarre tweet he made in 2017 before he was banned from Twitter.
Truth Social has represented itself as a haven for conservatives with less content moderation than the big social networks. It had faced many problems during its launch with a long waitlist, tech bugs, a roller coaster ride up and down and the app store charts on Apple.
Controversy over Truth Social App
“I created Truth Social… to stand up to the tyranny of big tech,” Donald Trump said.
“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter yet your favourite American president has been silenced.”- by Donald Trump.”It’s been a disaster,” Joshua Tucker, director of NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics, said.
Mr Trump’s Republican supporter, who did not wish to reveal his identity, said: “Nobody seems to know what’s going on.”
On 21 February, Truth Social was one of the App Store’s most downloaded apps but many who downloaded, could not use it. “Signed up for Truth Social a couple of weeks ago and still on a waiting list,” one Twitter user said, on Tuesday. “By the time I’m off the waiting list and on to Truth Social for real, Trump will be President again,” joked another.
Subscribe to Email Updates :
Add Comment