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Lisanne van der PijlSCC - 2647199, Oct. 2019.
Trump and the Politics of Fear in the Liquid Modernity
“I’m scared,” a 12-year-old girl from North Carolina“ What are you going to do to protect this
“You know what, darling?” Trump replied. “You’re not going to be scared anymore.
They’re going to be scared.”(The Atlantic, 2016)
Polls show the majority of American citizens are more afraid today then have ever been (Jones et al.,
2016). And this public anxiety is of often mentioned as the reason of Donald Trump’s success (Nai &
Maier, 2018). Simultaneously Jost, Stern, Rule & Sterling (2017) argue Trump is a master of fear and
he performs politics of fear.
According to the poll from The Washington Post and ABC-News (2019), there is a high
chance that Donald Trump will be re-elected during the 2020-race. This suggests Trump has a group
of loyal supporters behind him that are susceptible to this political fear tactic. But who are they?
Academics suggest there is a specific group, identified early on in his running, as the key constituency
of Trump; ‘the white working class’. Within this group there is a great deal of unease at the prospect
of redundancy the industrial sector (Smith & Hanley, 2018)
However, released data of the 2016 American National Election Study showed that Trump
amalgamated a far more varied and larger part of the population; the white working class and the ones
with an above average high income. This contrast in de broad-based appeal highlights there is more
going than fair from economic or educational inequality in U.S society. This research aims to
understand what fears bonds the Trump voters and how Trump mobilise these feelings to his own
favour.
Insecurity in the liquid modernity
First of all, Bauman refers in his book ‘Liquid Modernity’ (2001) that the late highly globalized
modernity can be seen as a fluid society. With liquid Bauman means the solid structures and
institutions in society whereupon earlier embeddedness relied, melted. And the ‘fluids’ would never
retain the same shape as at great length; everything seems to be subject to change. This results in
constant uncertainty and fear of what the future holds. Insecurity exists alongside high levels of social
mobility and individualism.
Moreover, because it is not possible to get a grip on the liquidity, people try to hold onto
, things that can be influenced and are searching for a sense to frame society. But, Bauman cites a
warning of Tocqueville (Tocqueville in Bauman 2000: p. 213): “Selfishness or extreme individualism
would dry up the sources of public virtues”. This implied that public issues are often reduced to an
individualistic emission and people are guarding their own border and rights. Even it is at the expense
of ‘others’. But who is the ‘others’ is it where Trump refers to with ‘they’?
Threat of increasing diversity
These ‘others’ brings us to the crux of the matter associated with anxiety. Data shows there is a
demographic shift going on in the United States. The U.S Census Bureau (2012) even predicts that the
national population of the non-white racial groups will become the majority in the population before
2050. Research of Wilkins & Kaiser (2014) showed that many ‘White’s’ view anti-White bias and
race relations as a zero-sum game.
According to De Jonge (2016) particularly Trump supporters have a sense that the ethnic
minorities indeed take the upper hand and they have fears for their group status. The president made
immigration the centrepiece of his campaign. In speeches he promised changes to the U.S.
Immigration system including cuts to legal immigration or “The Wall” between at the Mexican border
(Pierce & Selee, 2017).
Subsequently, the fear of Trump supporters can be found in a sharp majority-versus-minority scheme
(Appadurai, 2006). The native citizens want to protect the interests of the majority’s within the nation.
In order to fight for what they believe, they create a dialogue between ‘we’ and ‘them’, like in
Trump’s earlier mentioned quote; “They’re going to be scared”.
With this quote Trump tries do dissolve the minority other. Appadurai (2006) states the
majority can shape predatory identities associated with minority groups. Scapegoats are found to take
blame for public issues or dissatisfaction. They want to expel the minorities of the nations to make the
U.S ‘ours’ again.
Duyvendak (2011) states that these collected emotions can called nativism. The minorities in
the U.S seem to gain status and the majorities feel a sense of loss of their native homeland and culture.
With patriotic campaign-slogans “Make America Great Again” and “America First” Trump makes
promises for the future and shows the idea those native-born citizens should be prioritized above
‘others’ (Maertens, 2017).
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