Trump won the culture war | donald trump

Over the past month, the U.S. and foreign media have released numerous analyzes and opinions about the U.S. election and Donald Trump’s victory. Pundits have placed the blame for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ defeat either on the various communities that supposedly refused to vote for her, or on the Democratic Party’s failure to address their grievances.

Certainly the Harris campaign could have done more to deliver a consistent message to some of these communities, but the idea that Democrats lost this election because they ignored Americans’ concerns about the economy, immigration, or “woke” politics This is not the case. Drink plenty of water.

If you zoom out and think about the bigger picture of American politics over the past 15 years, it’s much easier to understand what happened on November 5th. With his election victory, Trump won the culture war that began with the Tea Party movement and the emergence of social media in 2009.

The way to reclaim American politics from Trumpism and defeat the election is to fight back and devise a strategy to win this war.

We are waging a culture war.

The Tea Party movement emerged in 2009 when Barack Obama took office promising a progressive agenda. Various populist narratives were promoted against not only the Democratic Party but also the ‘Republican establishment’. That agenda and momentum helped Republicans win a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections, demonstrating the popular appeal of the party’s anti-establishment rhetoric.

During Obama’s second term, far-right ideologue Stephen Bannon and right-wing financiers Robert Mercer and Rebekah Mercer joined the military at the UK-based Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL). They came together with propaganda experts to translate the Tea Party’s message into a coherent and highly powerful message. Professional communication style. The strategy was to weaponize social media and wage a culture war to polarize American society and pit many voters against what they perceive as the cultural elite.

Bannon’s collaboration with SCL led to the creation of Cambridge Analytica in 2013, which was hired by the Trump campaign in June 2016. The now-defunct political consulting firm harvested millions of Facebook profiles without authorization and developed big data models to influence specific voters. It is a battleground state with personalized political ads that tap into voters’ inner fears and anxieties about key issues such as the economy, terrorism, and immigration.

The campaign reached a wide range of groups across left-right divides. Black Americans received a message calling attention to long-standing and problematic comments made by Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, in which she described black youth as “super predators.” Trump also created confusion among the anti-war left by falsely claiming that he opposed the Iraq war and emphasizing that Clinton supported it.

Right-wing Americans’ fears about national security, Muslims and immigration have been amplified by images that raise the specter of terrorism and chaos if Democrats win. Trump appealed to white working-class communities in the Rustbelt who had previously voted for Obama and promised to serve their interests by halting immigration, renegotiating international trade deals and prioritizing industrial development in rural America.

Propaganda in elections

The themes and tactics of the first Trump campaign laid the foundation for what was to come. The constant flow of Trumpian messaging has never stopped. The same was true when he was in government and when, following his loss to Joe Biden in November 2020, he sparked the movement that led to the Capitol riots in January 2021.

During Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, the momentum of the culture wars helped him distort objective reality into a world of fantasy. The fantasy world is one where the American economy is in near ruin and immigrants are blamed for almost every ill of American society, from the high cost of housing. From low wages to gun violence to the opioid crisis.

The Republican ticket has used fake news and emotionally charged stories to amplify frustration over a variety of issues into anger and hatred not only toward immigrants, but also toward transgender people, progressive activists, Democratic leaders and Harris herself.

So many Trump voters did not vote based on the material reality that economic hardship and unsustainable high immigration are indisputable realities. They voted based on awareness of these issues created by widespread messaging that effectively amounts to propaganda.

These culture war techniques violate the basic rights of scapegoated groups to be free from harm and discrimination. They also distort the rules of democracy by attempting to reduce voters’ ability to make informed, autonomous choices about key issues that affect them.

As modern propaganda studies show, this does not mean that voters were simply deceived into thinking they had no agency in the matter. What Trump stands for is much clearer this time than it was in 2016, when he was still a newcomer to national politics.

People vote strategically to varying degrees and have varying degrees of receptivity to politicians’ messages. According to on-site testimony, many people actively accepted Trump’s exclusive and narrow-minded sentiments. As philosopher Jason Stanley argues in his book How Propaganda Works, the targets of propaganda have a responsibility to lower their guard and become captivated by the propagandist’s story.

In contrast, three months of intense campaigning by the Harris-Waltz ticket was not enough to successfully defend Trump’s culture war propaganda. They tried to strengthen their base after Biden withdrew from the race in July, but they made a serious mistake by refusing to engage in meaningful pro-Palestinian activism while simultaneously seeking support from the Republican establishment, which was the first casualty of Trump’s culture war. .

Defeat Trumpism

So how can Democrats and their allies fight back, especially during a Trump presidency when Republicans have full control of Congress and a majority on the Supreme Court?

The first thing Democrats and progressives need to do is recognize that they need frank and open debate to chart a way forward, but acrimony and division will not help them. The more infighting there is, the more powerful Trump and his administration will become. B.E.

The opposition should consider uniting on two broad fronts. One is to call for broad regulatory reform of the social media space that would end the ruthless domination of the tech billionaires largely responsible for fueling and profiting the Republican information ecosystem.

Here they can learn from the EU Digital Services Act, the first broad supranational regulation of technology platforms. The European Commission has already taken a strong stance against Elon Musk’s X for refusing to comply with the rules. Passing similar regulations through Congress is not an option in the short term, but laying the groundwork could mobilize a broader public concerned about the growing risks of social media manipulation and its impact on their lives.

A combative approach is needed to sensitize people to the need for respectful democratic debate based on science and accurate information, and to the human rights harms caused by hate speech. Progressives need to reframe these topics into forward-thinking, compelling narratives. The Harris campaign’s rehash of “freedom” could be a great starting point.

The second front on which Democrats and progressives must work together is to create a bold, expansive vision for the future that radically contrasts with Trumpism. This new vision must unflinchingly support humanism, racial and economic justice, protection of LGBTQ rights, and global solidarity for both American citizens and immigrants. This includes ending military aid to Israel and working with other countries to combat climate change and pandemics.

A widespread communication counteroffensive is needed, as is the use of ethical, hopeful and popular stories to galvanize political participation and restore trust in the fundamental values ​​of democracy and equality.

The challenges facing the progressive movement in the United States are not isolated cases. Right-wing populists are advancing in Europe and other parts of the world following a similar playbook adapted to local circumstances.

A transnational coalition of left and centrist forces can counter global Trumpism. The latter thrives on division, polarization, and dehumanization of people who think and act differently. Confronting toxic politics and rebuilding competitive alternatives through elections requires unity, empathy and a deep humanistic attitude.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.