Sorry if this is offensive to some! Please don’t look you are if fan of Donald Trump.
As the US primaries are coming closer and closer to a close, some people around the world are watching in fear as Donald Trump stands as the leading nominee for the Republican party nominee, including other Americans. Brandon Stanton, the creator of Humans of New York is one of many to decry Donald Trump as someone who is the “hateful one” promotes white supremacy and violence among fellow Americans, and not the outsiders like the Muslims or the Mexicans (An Open Letter to Donald Trump). A great deal of others have even compared him and his rise to something like Hitler (Trump vs Hitler). They often look at archived photos and quotes of his and his followers that seem to be mirrored by Donald Trump and his followers. Considering this, what is making Trump so popular in this election?
Derek Thompson points to a Washington Post analysis that says that most of his voters were skewed male, white, and poor (Who are Donald Trump’s supporters). This automatically strikes as what used to be the dominant force in America that had more power than the minorities, such as women or black and Hispanic voters. The article claims that most of these voters are uneducated and are angry because of the growing mortality rates despite the increasing wealth of the country. Ruth Sherlock accredits this to maybe of them have been affected by globalization and the increasing reliance on China to do the factory work instead of America’s own (Donald Trump’s Popularity). Thompson claims that Donald Trump plays off this by supporting those fears and saying what his supporters want to hear. He is also, in a way othering people who fit don’t fit into his supporter demographic.
Most of all, however, Thompson suggests that people feel that Donald Trump’s supporters don’t feel they have a voice. Maybe that is true, to a certain extent. After all, in Thompson’s article there are statistics that show that they are less educated, yet as Rodney G.S. Carter points out, there is no way of capturing all of the stories, and it is the powerful who get to decide what is known and silenced (Carter). People do often fight for voice when they feel that it’s being oppressed, and that can sometimes lead to revolutions, which is why two of the most radical candidates, such as Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are increasingly popular. As Thompson points out, those who feel voiceless tend to blame the current situation and look for a different solution. However, as Thompson states that white men without college degrees haven’t faced the discrimination against black people or women have that blocked their vote for a long time as well. Maybe it is the fear of change and the loss of power than it is the loss of voice itself. In a way, Donald Trump is the voice for his supporters. Considering he is trying to enforce what they might be too afraid to be say out loud, he does contribute to his community. However, by promoting the increased racism toward these minority groups, he is also working to silence them.
This brings the thought to if there a possibility for all voices to be heard, even if it’s not as powerful as others. Also, considering the power play that comes with voice, it might not be possible to have freedom of speech if one is oppressing the other. For some we might not want these voices to be heard because they are offensive, but we have to wonder if we should silence them considering some of those groups who want to silence this group have been silenced before and know what it feels like. In some ways, silencing can make dissenting voices even stronger and can have an impact that is a lot more negative than positive.
Although some may not like the election this year, saying that it seems to be juvenile, it does bring a lot of insight to the USA that might not have been uncovered otherwise and come to bite their policies later. Maybe now that the problems are known and more voices are heard, there will be a chance to help fix these problems and build a more unified country. Hopefully, after this most will be able to happily say that they feel heard.
Workcited:
Carter, Rodney. “Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence.” Archivaria 61 (2006): 215-33. Web. 18 March 2016.
Bennet, Asa. “Who Said It: Donald Trump or Adolf Hitler.” The Telegraph. N.p., 8 Dec. 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Sherlock, Ruth. “Why Is Donald Trump so Popular?” The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 9 Dec. 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Stanton, Brandon. “An Open Letter to Donald Trump.” Facebook. Humans of New York, 14 Mar. 2016. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Thompson, Derek. “Who Are Donald Trump’s Supporters, Really?” The Atlantic. N.p., 1 Mar. 2016. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
