Mom-in-Chief: Jill Biden, Melania Trump and the Rhetoric of Motherhood in First Lady Campaigning
Since the 1950’s and the emergence of the post-war suburban housewife demographic embodied by Mamie Eisenhower and Pat Nixon, first ladies have been identified as a national matriarchal figurehead, often reinforcing stereotypical gender roles. Despite the notion of the traditional housewife now being largely outdated, the 2020 election has been dubbed ‘the story of suburban women,’ and the rhetoric of motherhood and family values has become perhaps the most important aspect of how first lady candidates have related to the American voter.[i] However, the choice facing the electorate could hardly be more different in 2020: Whilst ex-model Melania Trump attained fame for her ‘Sex at 30,000ft’ centrefold for GQ magazine, Jill Biden has devoted her professional career to education as an associate professor at NOVA and has a track record of public service as Second Lady under the Obama administration. Given the defection of suburban women voters from the Republicans […]
Continue ReadingPolitical Identity in the Crossroads of America: Swing States, Campaign Presence, and Presidential Outcomes
‘The reality of recent United States presidential elections is that there are only about ten states which are the object of attention for candidates and campaigns,’ Stacey Hunter Hecht and David Schultz wrote in 2015.[i] In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, thirty-eight of the fifty American states voted for the same political party.[ii] Many of the twelve outlying states that have not voted consistently—often labeled as swing states—have taken on disproportionate importance in national elections, drawing candidates’ time, money and attention. Since the nineteenth century, the Midwest, historically home to many of the nation’s swing states, has been the most frequently visited region by presidential candidates. Yet while Vigo County, Indiana is the only county in the nation that has voted for the winner of the presidential race in every election since 1956, Indiana is not on the list of Midwestern battleground states. Instead, Indiana is in […]
Continue ReadingTrump and the Republican Party—Precessors and Limits
This article examines Donald Trump’s roots in the Republican Party, both in the popular backlash against immigration as well as more broadly. It also challenges the idea that Trump has developed an unusual degree of control over the GOP. Trumpism is both less new and less dominant than many narratives suggest. The biggest predictor of Trump’s success, when he sought the Republican nomination in the 2016 primary, was support for restricting immigration. When cross-regressed against other factors, it was by far the strongest variable. The well-known demographic differences in his primary support were mostly a product of it. That is, less educated and less religious Republican voters were more pro-Trump than other Republicans largely because they were more strongly anti-immigration. This anti-migration sentiment comes together in complex ways with racial sentiment. On the one hand, a strong sense of white identity seems to be linked to support for Trump, perhaps […]
Continue Reading“I’d Rather Vote for a Tuna Fish Sandwich”: Never Trumpers and the 2020 Presidential Election
“The man is categorically unfit to be president,” declares Bardon from Kentucky. Todd from Oregon agrees, arguing that “Trump’s daily tweet storms and fragile ego show he is dangerously incompetent.” Meanwhile, Dianne in Utah is concerned that “Trump cares about his image more than he cares about saving lives.” You would be forgiven for thinking that these comments came from disgruntled Democrats fed up with the Presidency of Donald J. Trump, but they are actually quotes featured on the website Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT) a major group in the growing Never Trump movement.[1] The Never Trump movement began during 2016 when a number of prominent Republicans declined to support Trump as the Republican Party Presidential Nominee, voting instead for Hillary Clinton. The movement gained prominence when the hashtag #NeverTrump began trending on Twitter in the autumn of 2016, but did not change the outcome of the election. Having failed […]
Continue ReadingMAGA, White Evangelicals, and the Objection to Kamala Harris
Trump established his political career with the Obama birther conspiracy, which alleged that President Obama was not a natural-born citizen of the US and was, therefore, an illegitimate president. Since then, discrediting Black and Brown people’s full human standing, particularly women’s, has been a central feature of his presidency, as shown when he told “the Squad” to “go back” to wherever they came from; three were born in the US, and the fourth, Ilhan Omar, found asylum in the US as a child. Similarly, the Trump campaign attempts to chip away at Kamala Harris’s legitimacy as a presidential candidate with messaging underpinned by the white South’s historic veneration of manliness, suspicion regarding anyone who is not white, and fear of anarchy.[1] Trump’s ads against Harris and, through her, Joe Biden, contain elements of traditional, religion-laced white supremacy and sexism, which attempt to attract Trump’s white, evangelical Christian base through rhetorical […]
Continue ReadingElection Series 2020
The United States is approaching an historic presidential election. With the country facing multiple crises, both Democrats and Republicans are arguing that the election of their counterparts would lead to the end of America as their constituents envision it. Uncertain of their prospects, President Trump and the Republican Party are attempting to spread doubt about the integrity of the election and have vowed to send groups of their supporters to monitor polling places. Democrats are trying to hold together a broad coalition to beat Trump and take back the Senate. Polls from across the country suggest Biden has a dominant lead, but, after 2016, everyone knows to be sceptical of the numbers. The election will not solve the deep conflicts with which the nation is grappling. It is, however, an inflection point that will influence the direction of the country for many years to come. This series delves into several […]
Continue Reading“Born in the USA”: Birtherism and the US Presidency
Following the Democratic Party’s nomination of Senator Kamala Harris as their Vice-Presidential candidate in the 2020 election, President Donald Trump claimed in a White House briefing, “I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements.” His comments hinged on a racist birther claim that Harris is not a natural-born US Citizen, and thus is ineligible to hold the office. He added, “I would have assumed, that the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice president.”[i] His comments were, of course, completely unfounded. Senator Harris was born in California, making her unequivocally eligible. Trump’s remarks represent yet another example of the racialised rhetoric that has pervaded the Republican Party. Birtherism, as it has come to be known, questions the citizenship status of candidates, falsely accusing them of being ineligible for the presidency. Yet, it stems from baseless nationalistic claims deeply rooted in the […]
Continue ReadingDecomposing and Reconstructing the Marginal: Walker Evans’ Portrait Photography in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
The pictures are for the most part mild, but in spite of this, though always exquisitely clear in reasoning and in visual quality, they pack a wicked punch. There’s nothing oppressively ‘photographic’ here, it isn’t a long nose poking into dirty corners for propaganda and for scandal, there are no trick shots, the composition isn’t a particular feature – but the pictures talk to us. And they say plenty. – William Carlos Williams, “Sermon with a Camera” In the year of 1936 in Hale County, Alabama, American writer James Agee and photographer Walker Evans spent the summer of their collaborative verbal-visual book project collecting both photographs and written testimony of Americas rural populace. During the Great Depression, after the 1932 Presidential Election during which Franklin D. Roosevelt came into power with his “New Deal” instead of Hoover’s “Laissez Faire Policies”, a prioritized concern about the national agriculture became apparent. Under […]
Continue ReadingUSSOcast: Interview with Glenn Houlihan (Peter Boyle BAAS MA GTA recipient)
This week USSO’s Emily Brady spoke to Glenn Houlihan, BAAS’s last recipient of the Peter Boyle BAAS MA GTA award. Listen to the interview above, where Glenn recalls his time meeting new people and enjoying new experiences in the small-town Midwest, his work with Interfaith in combatting homelessness and poverty, and an academic conference with a difference! Glenn also wrote his own testimonial to his time spent in Wyoming, which you can read on our site here. The Peter Boyle MA GTA award is now open for applications. For more information, head over here. *** USSOcast is the new podcast format to be launched soon by USSO. All of our audio content will be available through the central hub of USSOcast, including Eyes on Events; Book Hour; and other various webinars, roundtables, interviews, and more. For more information, or to collaborate on any of these events, please contact […]
Continue ReadingCowboys and Unions: Glenn Houlihan and the Peter Boyle BAAS MA GTA Award
I was surprised, and delighted, to receive the Peter Boyle Teaching Assistantship BAAS Award in the spring of 2019. Although I didn’t expect to be spending two years studying in Wyoming following the competition of my undergraduate degree (Laramie is certainly a change of pace from Brighton!) I can honestly say it’s been a fantastic decision. The Master’s degree is extremely flexible; apart from two required American Studies courses (one in the Fall semester of my first and second year) I was free to pick any classes I liked from the vast selection on offer. This has enabled me to study diverse topics such as Data Politics and Cultural Geography alongside my core American Studies work. The opportunities outside of the classroom have been equally as varied. In November 2019, just a few months after arriving at the University of Wyoming (UW), I was chosen to represent the American Studies […]
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