Disenchantment with Democracy: Reflections on the American election through a critical lens | Sanjana K.S.

The American Elections of 2020 were a sigh of relief for the nation’s democracy after the populist aberration in 2016 only to await the return of Donald Trump four years later. A postmortem of the 2024 American elections suggests the significance of this historic mandate of over 300 seats that Trump has received indicating a Red shift across America [1]. The extent of the mandate suggests two intertwined paradoxical political realities: political apathy among the marginalised and oppressed groups and their retaliation that inadvertently favours leaders who might threaten their existence further. What does it signify when the world’s biggest democracy elects a willful liar, racist, convicted felon accused of sexual assault back to power? Why has America passed on yet another opportunity to elect a Woman (of colour) candidate? What does the shift in demographic support with Latino-Hispanics voting for the very candidate who threatens to deport immigrants indicate? Should the results be read as the public’s open embrace for the xenophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-women policies that Trump represents? Or is it a reality check for the democrats and liberals by the very people they claim to represent and protect? These questions find space in this think-piece. The 2024 American election like every other since 2016 has been a window to the life of a deeply polarised nation which perhaps, no longer resonates with the empty utopian claims of the left-liberals and dabbles with the idea of Making America Great Again (MAGA) instead. Reading against the grain, the collective meltdown over the American political quandary might actually be good if it nudges one to undertake a contemplative look at the weakening condition of liberal-democracies across the world. The result of the American elections should not be seen as an isolated event rather the growing public acceptance of right-wing groups, political parties, their rhetoric and vision suggests a larger symptomatic pattern- disenchantment with liberal democracy.

Trump’s comeback

The previous decade marked the rise of right-wing populist leaders in Brazil, Turkey, India, Germany and the USA. Conservative, xenophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-minority rhetoric gained mainstream currency globally. The 2016 American election brought in the buzzwords of populism, alt-right, Trumpism and White majoritarianism into the political lexicon to understand these phenomena. Within four years, the Biden-led Democratic Party was able to pose as a credible alternative to Trumpism and the latter seemed like an uncharacteristic aberration in American democracy. However, the re-election of Trump in 2024 and persistence of right-wing leaders at the helm in some of the most prominent democracies comes as a big blow to the future of liberal democracy itself. The American election of 2024 is notable for two reasons: the margin of victory by which Trump-led Republicans won both the Senate and the House and the shift in demography of voting patterns. Many observers of this election have attributed the defeat of Kamala Harris to the overwhelmingly negative perception of the economy, the inheritance of palpable anger against the Biden administration, the ongoing wars in Ukraine and especially Gaza. Kamala Harris presented herself as a more youthful, credible, empathetic, inclusive, multicultural, hopeful and optimistic candidate representing the ‘true America’ as opposed to Trump’s hate-filled campaign that used similar populist styles. Though Harris joined the race only after Biden reluctantly dropped out in July this year, her campaign got massive funding (amounting to a billion dollars as compared to Trump’s 700 million) that should have covered the cost of mass-advertising, organising rallies, etc. Further, both non-white and white women took up her candidacy as a fight against the white male privilege that Trump clearly represents. Body autonomy, abortion rights and women safety became key electoral issues. Favourable media reception to Harris and celebrity endorsements with the likes of Beyonce and Taylor Swift kept Kamala Harris’s campaign strong. Despite these factors, the defeat of Kamala Harris comes as a big jolt. As a matter of fact, many democrat-sympathisers laughed off the daunting possibility of Trump’s comeback as wishful fantasies of the republicans and pro-Trump camps who attempted to overthrow the government on January 6th, 2020. Regardless, Trump’s ability to bounce back from a bunch of political and legal setbacks is commendable. His immunity from scandals and appeal of populist demagoguery is a political feat only few (closer home) have achieved.

Analysing Trump’s victory

(a) Populist appeals: Accommodating Majoritarian anxiety

None is privy to Trump’s outlandish claims of banning the entry of Muslims in the US, building walls across the US-Mexico border and migrants as the “worst people” surprisingly did not deter Americans from voting him back to power. By constantly creating an ‘us-them’ binary he has worn anti-immigrant, anti-minority, sexist, misogynistic, racist and xenophobic rhetoric as a badge of honour; portraying himself as a political outsider who is not afraid to speak his mind out. In the legion of right-wing leaders across the world, Trump headed the pushback on contours of what is acceptable and what was not in a liberal democracy [2]. The ‘basket of deplorables’ as Hillary called half of the Trump supporters are a symptomatic burgeoning of a dilapidated liberal democracy. Her statement, however, comes off as elitist that not only belittles them but also closes a possible analysis of why deeper systemic racial, gender and class prejudices might still appeal to the majority. Clearly, positioning oneself on a moral high-ground than their opponent backfires. Populists like Trump are able to translate the anxieties of the majority in a far more vitriolic language of popular sovereignty, the foundational principle of modern democracies. It has been suggested that in 2016, the White racial panic post Obama got a legitimate outlet through Trump [3]. The opponents of majoritarianism need to at least acknowledge this majoritarian anxiety and rearticulate it in a more positive language of inclusivity and accommodation. Trump’s voter base was not merely the white majority but non-white groups as well. He toned down his majoritarian rhetoric in favour of addressing economic concerns albeit superficially which enabled him to broaden his support-base [4].

(b) Effectiveness of economic populism

The support for Trump from non-white voting groups including African-Americans and Hispanic-Latino. Harris failed to address the urgency for better living conditions insufficiently. Trump’s economic populism took an anti-establishment economic position and capitalised on the anger and deprivation of these communities. He continued to grow his margins in counties with large populations of Hispanic residents. There were also shifts to the right in counties with large populations of Black and Native American residents. There has been a steady increase in the number of African Americans voting for Trump with 8 percent in 2016, 13 percent in 2020 and 20 percent in 2024 highest for any Republican candidate since 2000 [5]. This is worrisome and surprising given Trump’s racist overtones in the past. His racially polarising rhetoric can be summed up when he disregarded the Black Lives matter movement as a symbol of hate, called for military action against the protesters and celebrated Law Enforcements. Fabiola Cineas notes that Trump has made several attempts in the past to mislead African-American voters and to voo them in his favour and concludes that with Trump the community stands to lose a lot [6]. It is perplexing yet provocative to think that with rising inequalities people would vote Trump back who has been a posterboy for capitalism and neoliberal aspirations rather than see through it. Instead, the democratic camp’s narrative of social justice comes off as inauthentic. With respect to Women voters, only 47 percent of White women contra 92 percent Black women voted for Harris. She rallied on abortion issues, however it did not translate into votes for her [7]. Though the abortion rights were approved in seven out of ten states on election day, it did not prevent the majority of white women including 37 percent of Hispanic/Latino women voting for someone who could possibly threaten these very rights as their President [8].

In the recent past, the MeToo movement and abortion rights movement made Trump’s anti-women and sexist comments and policy outlook look outrageous. The day after the inauguration of Trump in 2017, the Women’s March on Washington was the largest single-day protest in US History until the BLM three years later. As was prophesied the seeming solidarity between the ‘women of America’ did not translate into electoral gain for Harris. The question then proposed is if racially oppressed minorities and marginalised groups are disenchanted with the condition of democracy itself? Is democracy no longer a powerful idea capable of strengthening solidarity? To eschew such bold claims is worthwhile, especially today but it does not shy away from urging one to rethink the strategies one pursues for the same.

Reflecting on the Paradoxes: Disenchantment with democracy

The overtly anti-democratic rhetoric of Trump does not seem to alarm or be a deal-breaker for the groups even though they might be at the receiving end of it. They seek a robust leader, someone who does not submit to external political or economic influences, someone who will improve their current living conditions, and someone who will alleviate some of the threats and uncertainties that the times present. Peter Baker writes that Americans“rather than be offended by his brazen lies and wild conspiracy theories, many found him authentic. Rather than dismiss him as a felon found by various courts to be a fraudster, cheater, sexual abuser and defamer, many embraced his assertion that he has been the victim of persecution.” [9] The meta-narrative of the democratic-progressive camp of ‘saving Democracy’ or ‘battle for the soul of the nation’ though lends a morally superior political positioning to the opponents of the Right but also makes the gap in its preaching and actual practice direly apparent. The talk-shop of universalism, human rights, peace and democracy while actively supporting a Genocide in Gaza and violently crashing on pro-Palestenian student protestors is a clear example. Arab Americans, in particular, expressed frustration over the handling of Gaza by the Harris-Biden administration and Trump’s hard position on Hamas, his vow to crush pro-Palestinian protestors is equally dangerous but eerily bears resemblance to his democrat counterpart [10]. The hypocrisy of the liberals cuts deeper than the brazen macho honesty of the right. This election might be holding up a mirror to the Americans only for them to discard the very image the mirror shows back. Wendy Brown describes the exhaustion of liberal democracy as being more than simply attacked by the right, ‘as a historically exhausted form, both for representing the demos and for addressing our gravest predicaments’ [11]. She further states that, “nothing would be more dangerous than treating a win for the Democrats as proof that the crisis of democracy is receding. Trump is a symptom, not cause, of the “crisis of democracy” [12]. Similar analogies can be drawn for populist spurt globally. Populism has exasperated ‘the people’ only furthering their disenchantment with the existing liberal democratic setup. The extent to which America and other democracies worldwide can persevere the further ‘right-ward’ strain on democracy is for time to tell. Meanwhile, it is provocative to think if the liberal paraphernalia is not only unable to keep-up with the rapid rise of the right but is also an ineffective antidote to the polarised, broken and ruptured political.

References:

[1] Rohit. (2024, November 7). “Beyond A Landslide”: How Trump’s Historic Win Gave Republicans “Unprecedented” Mandate. News18. https://www.news18.com/world/beyond-a-landslide-trump-secures-historic-mandate-as-republicans-take-control-of-senate-9111958.html
[2] Gass, N. (2015, December 8). The 15 most offensive things that have come out of Trump’s mouth. POLITICO; POLITICO. https://www.politico.eu/article/15-most-offensive-things-trump-campaign-feminism-migration-racism/
[3] Lind, D. (2016, July 28). How Obama’s election sparked the white racial panic that’s powering Trump. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2016/7/27/12305852/obama-trump-racism-backlash
[4] Jiménez, M. (2024, November 7). Trump wins votes from working-class discontent over inflation and immigration. EL PAÍS English. https://english.elpais.com/usa/elections/2024-11-07/trump-wins-votes-from-working-class-discontent-over-inflation-and-immigration.html
[5]Al Jazeera Staff. (2024). MSN. Msn.com. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-election-2024-results-how-black-voters-shifted-towards-trump/ar-AA1tCIVP?ocid=socialshare
[6] Lind, D. (2016, July 28). How Obama’s election sparked the white racial panic that’s powering Trump. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2016/7/27/12305852/obama-trump-racism-backlash
[7] Igielnik, R. (2024, November 8). On the Ballot, Abortion Rights Proved More Popular Than Kamala Harris. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/us/elections/abortion-ballot-harris-democrats.html
[8] Woodward, A. (2024, November 8). Abortion rights won major victories on Election Day. But Trump and his allies could threaten them. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/abortion-laws-trump-election-ballot-measures-b2642814.html
[9] Baker, P. (2024, November 6). “Trump’s America”: His Comeback Victory Signals a Different Kind of Country. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/us/politics/trump-america-election-victory.html
[10] Osgood, B. (2024, October 12). Will escalating violence in the Middle East affect the US elections? Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/12/will-escalating-violence-in-the-middle-east-affect-the-us-elections
[11] Brown, W. (2024, November 8). A Party Out of Touch - Dissent Magazine. Dissent Magazine. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/a-party-out-of-touch/
[12] Brown, W., & Wade, F. (2024, October 22). The Violent Exhaustion of Liberal
Democracy - Boston Review. Boston Review.
https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-violent-exhaustion-of-liberal-democracy/
(Author: PhD Student, Centre for Political Studies, JNU, New Delhi)