Trump Politics and the American Future – PLSC 359: Global Governance

With the general elections for the American executive, looming in the future months, candidates such as Donald Trump, continue their campaigns with stride. Trump poses a symbolical value to American politics. His brand of leadership highlights aspects of the election process, that would probably have never been exposed. Without relatively any political endorsements, experience in public office, or any political education, he has managed to convince portions of the American population that he could steer the executive, in a more effective manner. The issue that I am trying to highlight is the relative ease with which Donald Trump, has managed to capture the political atmosphere. He has successfully obtained votes and is at the forefront for the Republican candidacy. His rise in popularity, signifies two aspects of current political process. First, that their is a significant problem in the election process and second, Americans are discontent with the current trend of leadership.
The first problem that I am referring to deals with the manner in which members of the public can run for election. In that political experience is not the primary resource, but rather monetary resources play a greater role in one’s ability to campaign. While this may seem necessary, as money funds campaigns, what needs to be highlighted is that these resources need to come from endorsements and not personal income.
The second one deals with the type of leadership that has shaped the White House since the 90s. I am referring specifically to lack of consistent transparency between the public and the executive. From Clinton’s various scandalous exploits (and their consequent cover up), to Bush’s authoritarian foreign policy, the past decades have been shaped by dishonest and abusive (power) leaders. Although Obama does not follow along his recent predecessors, his style of leadership has been liberal and lacked decisive action.
The American public seem to want a firm hand of resolve in the White House and their error is presuming Donald Trump has the answer.

Alec Silverman says:

April 30, 2016 at 3:50 am

The American people are tired of establishment politics and want something new. Problem is, like you said, we don’t really know what we want. Trump is tearing the Republican Party apart, while the Democratic Party is struggling to keep the great level of influence they have in choosing their party’s candidates.

Is the death of the two-party system in our future? A Trump v. Clinton v. Cruz v. Sanders race would be much more interesting.

Daniel Connolly says:

April 30, 2016 at 3:19 pm

The 2016 election could very well change the entire political landscape in this country for years to come. Over the past year many people would mention Trump in passing and say “Oh it’ll never actually happen.” Months later he is the frontrunner for the Republican Party and thousands of citizens are showing up to protest his rallies before he even has won the ticket. While I don’t think Donald Trump would be a good leader for this country, I do think that his candidacy helps the country in that, like Rohan mentioned, he has brought attention to many issues in the United States election process. While I do like that the Trump campaign is self-funded, that does not mean that Donald Trump is devoid of big business influence considering he himself is part of big business.
I think that the two-party system is way outdated and needs reform. The world has changed drastically over the last half century or so, and it is unfair to have two parties take sides on every important social and economic issue. I believe that the Republican and Democratic parties will always be strong in this country, but I hope that soon the American electoral system will see a three or four party race in the near future.