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ERA “The Case for Trump” Ch. 4

Throughout Victor Davis Hanson’s novel, The Case for Trump, Hanson attempts to explain how America has ended up with Donald Trump, a man with little political experience, as the current President. Chapter four focuses specifically on the ways in which the Democrats evolved and became organized so as to set the stage for Donald Trump. He begins by speaking of Hillary Clinton and her campaign in 2016. Hanson argues that Clinton was running primarily in opposition to Trump. It was almost as if her policies and future goals were of little importance, instead she placed emphasis on the fact that Trump was a scary and bad person. She portrayed him in a way that emphasized that she was the better option. Additionally, she used her gender in order to gather votes as well. However, this clearly did not pan out as expected. The difference between her campaign and Obama’s campaign, which he obviously won, is the fact that Obama did not present himself merely in opposition of the Republican candidate. In fact, he mostly ignored his opponents. Additionally, Obama was especially careful in his campaign tactics. He made sure not to appear too liberal so that he might stay in line with the views of the more central democrats. He waited to incorporate progressivism until after he was elected. 

Hanson then goes on to explain how the Democratic party shifted during Obama’s term due to progressivism. Although Obama did not originally present himself as extremely progressive, after his election he became more so, and the progressivists in the Democratic party got excited and began to take over the party. Many of the Democrats who were liberal but lay more in the center, were turned away by this. By the end of Obama’s time as President of the United States, the Democratic party became dominated by the far Left and had little new ideas. With the next election, the Democrats and Republicans were polarized. The Democrats seemed to have forgotten that the majority of the population lay in the middle class and lower. Their priorities varied from the Democratic elite and the far left agenda. It was not sufficient to rely on citizens to merely vote based on their race or their gender, many voted in surprising ways. Hanson argues that all of these factors led to the unique situation in which America currently resides. After reading this chapter I have come to question how this situation can be remedied. I am curious to hear my classmates opinions on the next election and what they predict the outcome to be.

One reply on “ERA “The Case for Trump” Ch. 4”

This is a good expository reading analysis and I like the way you went about it. It’s interesting to note how the 2016 presidential election was quite different with Hillary Clinton, who was not necessarily focused on her values and what she wants to change as much as she wanted to win the race over Donald Trump. Clearly, it’s not a smart idea for a candidate to present him or herself merely in opposition of another candidate. Hillary Clinton shows that you don’t win presidential campaigns unless if you are directly appealing to citizens by focusing on hot topics of the nation, not opposing candidates. It’s interesting to see how the elections and campaigns are evolving in this new age. As technology is growing, there is a lot of room for new and unique ideas that candidates can come up with to help them get the advantage in presidential campaigns. As for the next election, I am not sure how it will turn out. I hope the nation is in the hands of the best candidate, for the best and safest condition.

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