Counterpublics and the New Dynamics of Contemporary Conservatism: From the Tea Party to the Trump Movement
The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States came as a surprise to many. Others, the author of this article included, saw in his election the culmination of a variety of long-term processes and recent transformations within the contemporary American Right. Whether interpreted as an anomaly or confirmation of long-term developments, the Trump phenomenon has changed the way we think about voter alignments, election campaigning, the American Presidency and dynamics of the American Right.
Continue ReadingDocumenting Donald: A Trans-Media Post-Mortem about Documentary-Making during the 2016 Presidential Election
‘Documenting Donald’ is a trans-media article which combines the written word with short films and interactive elements. Media elements are embedded into the article and should be activated by the reader at the appropriate place in the text. Embedded elements can be viewed within the article or as full-screen presentations.
Continue Reading‘Strangers’ Revisited: Reading Donald Trump through John Higham
Foreshadowing the expressed foreign policy by the incumbent President of the United States, the National Association of Manufacturers confessed in 1920 that immigration might endanger the nation and exclaimed that policy must rest on “the needs and interests of America first”. We learn this from reading John Higham’s seminal work, Strangers in the Land, which quietly celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2015. The book’s subject is American nativism, defined by its author as “intense opposition to an internal minority on the grounds of its foreign (i.e. un-American) connections”.
Continue ReadingMedia Coverage and the Presidential Election of 2016: Introducing the Series
Much has been written about media coverage in American society since the beginning of the twentieth century, and much of it has been critical. Arguably one of the most notable works is Noam Chomsky and Edward Hermann’s, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988), which outlines the power of corporate media on molding public opinion and enforcing national conformity. However, since its publication thirty years ago, there has emerged a new form that has the potential to influence and reshape the impact of the media.
Continue Reading