Donald Trump’s Appeal

Is “Whitelash” an Adequate Explanation?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.56.3

Keywords:

Whitelash, Donald Trump, Populism, Hillary Clinton, Political Correctness, Democracy

Abstract

Scholars have expounded in diverse ways the rise of former US president Donald Trump. One proposition has been that his appeal to white middle-class people was successful. This concept connects to whitelash—the idea that there was a backlash against political liberalism, inclusiveness, and progressive politics from white people. However, this article demonstrates that whitelash does not provide an adequate explanatory framework to understand Trump’s electoral victory. Rather, whitelash is merely one phenomenon leveraged by appealing to voters’ whiteness through what is more accurately identified as right-wing populism. Moreover, relying on the concept of whitelash to explain the rise of former US president Donald Trump tends to ignore other issues regarding American democracy and the presidential elections of 2016. These include Trump’s upper hand in election strategies, the poor record of the Clinton family, voter turnout, and wider critiques of democracy itself. While there is some value in using the concepts of whitelash and whiteness to assess Trump’s presidency, replacing whitelash with different interpretive approaches extends a more robust and broader understanding of Trump’s electoral victory.

Author Biography

Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui, American University of Sharjah

Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui is a final-year undergraduate student at the American University of Sharjah, majoring in International Studies and minoring in Economics and Environmental Policy. Amaan is an aspiring political scientist. He runs a personal blog, The Vigilant Mind (thevigilantmind.com), and has experience working with think tanks like TRENDS Research & Advisory and the Middle East Institute. Over the years, Amaan has received grants funding projects investigating Indian ultranationalism, online feminism, and South Asian emigration. His interests also include international relations, comparative politics, public policy, political economy, and Marxism. 

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Published

2023-12-22

How to Cite

Siddiqui, Mohammad Amaan. 2023. “Donald Trump’s Appeal: Is ‘Whitelash’ an Adequate Explanation?”. Politikon: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science 56 (December). Online:65-81. https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.56.3.

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