Listening to Donald Trump

ABSTRACT

Who really listens to Donald Trump? In many instances, his rambling verbiage makes him impossible to understand. But even when he is relatively clear his bombast and fulminations take away any credence that can be given to his voice. This usually requires clarifications and reinterpretations by his advisors and cabinet. When Trump, exercising the formal functions of the presidency, attempts to communicate with government institutions his messages are absorbed by them to suit their interests, or he is simply ignored. The original design of American government has provided ramparts against a president like Trump and his diatribes. Also, the fact that this president has been largely unable to fill positions at the highest levels of government makes it all the more difficult for him to communicate to them. The traditional media, respecting professional standards, also resist what he tries to say. Polls show that the public is also skeptical of his voice, especially when it is relayed by Twitter. The general skepticism given to him is no doubt due to the nature of his character and behavior. But Trump is indeed heard by his hardcore base when his meaning, frequently veiled, reinforces the current cultural divide in the United States. This divide can be interpreted as the contemporary sharp schism in the American “civil religion”—the sacred dimension of political and social values. It can be questioned if today's political discourse is any more vitriolic than in the American past.

KEYWORDS:

• Donald Trump
• presidential character
• civil religion
• political communication
• media credibility

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Steven R. Ekovich

Steven Ekovich earned his Ph.D. in history at the University of California, Irvine. He is Full Professor in the Department of International and Comparative Politics at The American University of Paris. He has also been a member of the faculty at the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris and the École Polytechnique. He has given courses at the Université de Paris I—Sorbonne and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His publications, mostly in French, deal with American politics and foreign policy.