Photo via the University of Central Florida
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As America cycles through post-election emotions, there have been reactions across the board to President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat. Through it all, there has been plenty of cause for concern over the future of the U.S. government. We are witnessing a historical era in politics, one that both echoes our political history and will inevitably impact a majority of countries. The prominence of this new era is evidenced by the narratives surrounding the 2024 presidential election, as well as the expansive use of social media.
Robert Pape, an American political scientist at the University of Chicago, has extensively studied this new era—one he called in Foreign Affairs an “era of violent populism.” For example, according to Pape, we are essentially experiencing a period where there is an increased sentiment among the population (specifically 15% of Americans) that utilizing force is justifiable under the premise that it ensures members of Congress and other government officials will do what they believe is ‘the right thing.’ The adoption of such an ideology stems from the belief that the use of force is a legitimate way to express support for a certain political candidate, ideology, or movement.
The crisis we face is one of legitimacy. As Pape puts it, “a government is legitimate when its citizens accept that it rightfully holds and exercises power, when public institutions are free of corruption, and when state officials abide by democratic norms.” As we have witnessed from political rhetoric, social media, and general sentiment, the election has encouraged and resulted in people being far more forceful about their beliefs, with those who express hesitancy or doubt facing ridicule. This feeling has always existed, but in the digital age and with the growing radicalization of voters, it has increased tenfold. According to surveys conducted by the University of Chicago, the public’s trust in democracy has dwindled throughout 2024.
This is not the first time in U.S. history that we have seen such political turmoil and upheaval. Another time was in the 1960s and 1970s, which Pape believes correlates with the current climate due to the common denominator of social change. In the 60s, there was an atmosphere of youthful optimism and political failure, very similar to the sentiments held by Democrats in this election cycle. This optimism was a result of young people who pushed for their ideals to become reality, which subsequently infected U.S. culture with hopes of change—political and social alike.
During the civil rights movement, the achievement of dismantling legal segregation and securing voting rights for all U.S. citizens led to more visibility and political representation of minorities. However, these demographic changes prompted many conservative politicians to instill anxiety in the white population about how their lives and rights may be impacted. A notable parallel to draw here is between 1968 candidate George Wallace’s and Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rallies.
Wallace, during his time, was known as being one of the most openly racist politicians. At his rally, when protestors were chanting at him, he responded, “Why don’t you come on down here…I’ll autograph your sandals, I have a new word to teach you: S-O-A-P.” He spoke extensively about the threat of racial integration, and campaigned on preserving white majority power. The strategy here was to weaponize social progress and cast it in a negative light, with the goal being that the public ultimately resisted further progress. Politicians in this time period pushed fear into voters by making them more cognizant of the fact that the historically dominant white majority would eventually become a demographic minority.
This same method has been utilized by Trump’s campaign as a method of instilling fear of ‘the other’ into the people. One of the most prominent topics on the political agenda is immigration, and the Trump campaign has drawn an uncomfortable parallel with Wallace in terms of rhetoric surrounding the topic. As he spoke at Madison Square Garden, Trump said that he “will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and [he] will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail.” Trump, just like Wallace, has fear-mongered about demographic changes and the potential loss of a white majority in the nation as an opportunity to gain support.
Political violence has often been fueled by political rhetoric, especially during times of significant social change. In today’s digital age, it is undoubtedly amplified by social media. This era of violent populism is not a new phenomena; rather, it is a clear historical trend. It has led to something that undermines democracy entirely, which is a crisis of legitimacy, a deep doubt of our institutions. To counter these movements, voters must ensure that they conduct their own thorough research to prevent such large-scale crises from occurring again.
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This article was edited by Ainsley Coates.
