Talking Trump at U of G
Following the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, all eyes turned to America.
University of Guelph students and community members packed into a MacKinnon lecture hall on Nov. 18 for a panel discussion on why Donald Trump was elected and what that means for the political climate going forward.
Presented by the department of political science, the panel featured Toronto Star columnist Judith Timson, Professor Clifford Orwin from the University of Toronto, and Guelph’s own Professor David MacDonald.
While the panelists agreed that the 2016 election was one of strongly divided opinions and overblown media spectacle, Orwin emphasized that it was a very normal election considering its non-normal candidates.
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With 90 per cent of Democrats voting for Hillary Clinton and 90 per cent of Republicans voting for Trump, the outcome came down to the voters who claimed to have negative views of both candidates, Orwin explained. What many voters saw in Trump, however, was an opportunity for change.
“When voters are passionate for change, people can overlook an awful lot,” said Timson, who declared her support for Clinton at the start of the discussion.
Timson believed that Clinton was the most qualified candidate, but that she did not make the connections she needed to make throughout her campaign.
MacDonald added that a “vanilla” legacy candidate running in this election was always going to lose against a movement, noting that Clinton was too much within the “normal realm of politics and people who get elected.”
Timson argued that there was nothing “vanilla” about breaking down another barrier in having a highly qualified woman as president, drawing applause of agreement from most of the room.
Timson equated Trump’s victory to what she called the “Tevye effect,” citing the famous musical Fiddler on the Roof and the protagonist’s belief that if he was rich, it wouldn’t matter if he was right or wrong, people would listen to him.
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“People voted against the corruption they thought they knew and voted for the corruption they have no idea about,” Timson said.
Orwin described Trump by his “inconsistent, unpredictable, and volatile” reputation.
If going forward as a bipartisan president, Orwin explained that Trump could do some “surprising things” between the Republican and Democratic parties. While many are anticipating that he is going to do some very bad things, Orwin explained, “It’s hard to predict which very bad things he’s going to do.”
MacDonald disagreed, noting that Trump’s policies will be a direct reflection of the circle around him, describing Trump’s transition team as an echo chamber of “right-wing whack-jobs.”
MacDonald focused his initial discussion points on the issues surrounding voter restrictions. This year, 14 states were allowed to instate new voting laws, many of which opted for stricter photo ID requirements and felony disenfranchisement.
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“Deeply embedded structurally racist factors” played a role in preventing many African Americans and people of colour from voting in this election, MacDonald explained, drawing a comparison to voting restrictions set during the Civil War.
While Orwin did not think racism and sexism were the main components related to Trump’s election, he agreed that they did play a partial role. What he believed caused the real problem for the Democrats was their geographic concentration of supporters and lack of younger leadership within the party.
Following the formal discussion, moderated by U of G professor Byron Sheldrick, the panelists took questions from the audience. The questions ranged in nature from the media’s failure to provide balanced election coverage, to Canada’s role in the political climate going forward.
One audience member conveyed a message of hope and a call to action for students worried about the future, referring to several political movements from the ’60s and ’70s.
“It was dark then and we thought there was no hope,” he said. “Get protesting. Get out there. Get involved.”
In an interview with The Ontarion following the event, Troy Riddell, chair of the political science department, spoke on the importance of having these kinds of discussions at the University of Guelph.
“American politics impact Canada [in] issues of trade, environment, security, and so on. So I think that as Canadians and as Guelphites, we have an interest in this from an economic and environmental standpoint,” Riddell explained, noting that there is an inherent interest in understanding the politics behind the most powerful country in the world.