Professor Karina V. Korostelina presents insights into the "Trump effect" and explains how the support for Trump among the American general public is based on three complementary pillars. First, Trump champions a specific conception of American national identity that empowers his supporters. Second, Trump's leadership has, to an extent, been crafted from his ability to recognize where and with whom he can get the most return on his investment (e.g. his political comments) and address the perceived general malaise in the U.S. Trump also mirrors the emotions of a disenfranchised American public, and inspires the use of frustration based anger and insults to achieve desired aims. He addresses the public’s intolerance of uncertainty and ambivalence by providing simpler solutions to complex national problems and by blurring the boundary betweent he leading political parties. Further, Trump employs existing political polarization and has established a new kind of morality. Third, Trump challenges the existing political balance of power within the U.S. and globally.
The overarching goal of this book is to show how the popularity of Trump has revealed substantial problems in the social, political, and economic fabric of American life.
Aimed at the general public and students in the U.S. and internationally, the book goes beyond many explanations of the "Trump Effect". Using a multidisciplinary theoretical lens, it provides a systemic multifaceted analysis based on multiple theories of social identity, emotions, cognitions, morality, and power to explain the broader social phenomena of the rise of individuals in society.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgement
Introduction
Chapter 1: Candidate Trump
Chapter 2: Win With Me
Chapter 3: The Great Insulter
Chapter 4: Angry As Hell
Chapter 5: The World Is Simple
Chapter 6: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Chapter 7: Making America Great Again
Conclusion
Selected bibliography
Biography
Karina V. Korostelina is a Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and a Director of the Program on History, Memory and Conflict at George Mason University. Professor Korostelina is a social psychologist whose work focuses on social identity and identity-based conflicts, intergroup insult, the nation building processes, role of history in conflict and post-conflict societies, conflict resolution and peacebuilding. She is a recipient of thirty-nine fellowships and grants. She has edited six books and authored nine books and numerous articles.
‘When Donald Trump entered the primary race for the 2016 Republican nomination for the Presidency, most liberals thought it was either desperate self-promotion, or a political joke. None of us could see how a four times bankrupted businessman or a three times married playboy would ever be taken seriously by the Republican or the wider US electorate. In his campaign speeches, he transgressed most norms of acceptable racial, gender, religious and political discourse. He encouraged violence at his meetings and hinted at wider social violence if he didn’t receive the nomination, or later, win the election. This book explains how and why Donald Trump has managed to turn political transgression into political support from those who lack education and are excluded from economic and political power and influence. The unfortunate consequence of the "Trump Effect" however, is that it has added to, or generated a license for irresponsible racist and xenophobic politics all around the world. This syndrome, therefore, needs to be understood by the whole world if we are to return to some 20th century notions of civilized political discourse, respect for human rights and an ethics of tolerance, care and hospitality rather than intolerance, callousness and exclusion.’ - Kevin Clements University of Otago, New Zealand
'Karina Korostelina provides an insightful and comprehensive analysis of the fit between the resentments felt by a significant segment of Americans and Donald Trump’s channeling of those resentments, his crude remedies for them, and his bullying manner. This is a timely and valuable book.' - Louis Kriesberg, Maxwell Professor Emeritus of Social Conflict Studies, Syracuse University
