Trumpism came up during the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign. It denotes a populist political method that suggests jingoistic answers to complex political, economic and social problems and is intended to mobilize the disenfranchised of the growing social inequality, with stated opposition to the established political establishment. Ideologically, it has a right-wing populist accent, whereby Trump's political style also shows traits of authoritarianism.
Contents
In terms of foreign policy, a unilateral is preferred to multilateral policy and national interests are particularly emphasized, especially in the context of economic treaties and alliance obligations. Trump has shown a disdain for Canada as well as the transatlantic partners, who have been considered the most important allies of the United States so far. Another characteristic of foreign policy is a sympathy for autocratic rulers, especially for the Russian president Vladimir Putin, whom Trump often praised even before taking office and during the 2018 Russia–United States summit. In terms of economic policy, Trumpism promises new jobs and more domestic investment. Trump's hard line against export surpluses of American trading partners has led to a tense situation in 2018 with mutually imposed punitive tariffs between the United States on the one hand and the European Union and China on the other. Trump secures the support of his political base with a policy that strongly emphasizes nationalism, anti-elitism and criticism of globalization.
Rhetoric
Rhetorically, Trumpism is characterized by a rejection of the political establishment. Trump is also rhetorically proven to act with a large number of false or at least misleading statements, which he presents as facts. In this sense, a large part of the media is pejoratively called "fake news" by Trump because of their resulting critical coverage, while he mainly relies on the Fox News Channel, where influential moderators support his policies medially.
Reception
There has been an ongoing public debate whether or not Trumpism is a form of fascism. The American historian Robert Paxton evaluates Trumpism as proto-fascism because of its xenophobic agenda, the repeated thematization of the national decline to be fought, and the rhetorical stylistic devices used. British historian Roger Griffin considers the definition of fascism not fulfilled, since Trump does not question the politics of the United States or want to abolish its democratic institutions. Argentinean historian Federico Finchelstein discusses significant intersections between Peronism and Trumpism since a disregard for the contemporary political system is discernible. Historian Christopher Browning considers the long-term consequences of Trump's policies and the support he receives for them from the Republican Party to be potentially dangerous to democracy. In the German-speaking debate, the term has so far only appeared sporadically, mostly in connection with the crisis of confidence in politics and the media. It then describes the strategy of mostly right-wing political actors to stir up this crisis in order to profit from it. The British Collins English Dictionary named Trumpism after Brexit as one of its "Words of the Year 2016". According to the jury, the term denotes both Trump's ideology and his characteristic way of speaking. In How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship, author Ece Temelkuran refers to Trumpism as echoing a number of views and tactics used by Turkish politician Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his rise to power. Some of these include right-wing populism, demonization of the press; subversion of well-established and proven facts ; dismantling judicial and political mechanisms; making systematic issues, such as sexism or racism, appear like isolated incidents; and crafting an "ideal" citizen.
