There is more at issue here than ideological obfuscation and a flight from social responsibility on the part of the dominant classes there is also a language of violence that serves to reproduce existing modes of domination and concentrated relations of power.
The uncivil persona becomes a threat, a signpost for misdirected anger and a symbol of a mass in need of a savior. By claiming he loves the uneducated and appealing to the crudest instincts of the mob, Trump elevates incivility to a performance - a pedagogy of righteous indignation - while removing it as a platform for a substantial political critique.
On the contrary, their problems are reduced to the depoliticizing discourse of bad character, defined as an individual pathology, and whatever resistance they present is dismissed as rude and uncivil.Īs a rich white man who has intentionally embraced an “uncivil” persona, Trump has related to this discourse in unpredictable ways. At the same time, those who are poor, unemployed, homeless or subject to police violence are not seen as victims of larger political, social and economic forces. Within this rhetoric, the wealthy, noble and rich are usually deemed to possess admirable character and to engage in civil behavior.
#Trumps cult animosity letting up code
Politics, in this sense, shifts from a focus on substance to style - reworking the notion of critical thinking and action through a rulebook of alleged collegiality - which becomes code for the elevated character and manners of the privileged classes. The rhetoric of “incivility” often functions as a conservative ideological tool, working to silence critics by describing them as ill-tempered, rude and uncivilized. Too often during this election season, a discourse of “bad manners” has paraded as insight while working to hide the effects of power, politics, racial injustice and other forms of oppression. Moreover, it turned politics into what Guy Debord once called a “perpetual motion machine” built on fear, anxiety, the war on terror and a full-fledged attack on women, the welfare state and people of color. The incivility machine Trump resurrected as tool of resistance against establishment politicians played a major role in gaining him the presidency. Clearly, Trump’s embrace of incivility (in addition to his embrace of racism and xenophobia) was a winning strategy, one that not only signaled the degree to which the politics of extremism has moved from the fringes to the center of American politics, but also one that turned politics into a spectacle that fed the rating machines of the mainstream media.įor more original Truthout election coverage, check out our election section, “Beyond the Sound Bites: Election 2016.” Understanding the ramifications of current discourses of incivility will be one key to understanding the results of the presidential election and Trump’s ascension. However, it is a mistake to lump the racism, bigotry, misogyny and ultra-nationalism that Trump has played upon under an obscuring and euphemistic notion of “incivility.” And it is simultaneously a mistake to delegitimize the anger that oppressed people feel about racism, sexism or class exploitation by categorizing protests over these injuries as merely “incivility.”
It’s true that in the run-up to the presidential election, Donald Trump strategically showcased incivility in his public appearances as a mark of solidarity with many of his white male followers.
In the face of a putrid and poisonous election cycle that ended with Trump’s presidential victory, liberals and conservatives are quick to argue that Americans have fallen prey to a culture of incivility.
#Trumps cult animosity letting up series
Part of the Series Beyond the Sound Bites: Election 2016
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