Political Compromise in Consolidated Democracies

Following the creation of the modern state, the consolidation of democracy has required a dialogue among groups with opposing political views to produce functioning governments. Constructive dialogue allows the improvement of government institutions and encourages citizen participation. Including diverse voices enhances democracy by confronting society's ever-changing needs. All modern democracies face challenges in responding to growing diversity; this requires developing better institutions to protect every citizens' rights and enhance political dialogue (Mouffe, 2000).

According to Miller-Lane (2010), the checks and balances system at the federal level reflects the need for a dynamic balance between unity and diversity to improve democratic dialogue. This tension provides the necessary energy to create a vibrant democracy, while a lack of positive conflict hinders its development, and incites the creation of authoritarian regimes. Constructive disagreements generate political compromises, which in turn generate more inclusive public policies and better institutions. In a mature democracy, different voices are encouraged to voice their concerns and make their case, presenting valid and substantiated arguments; if the merit of their claims is ascertained, they should be considered to impact government institutions and programs (Miller-Lane, 2010).

Conversely, destructive disagreements, based on personal insult and disqualification, destroy the possibility of reaching a compromise, even if these positions are not so dissimilar. When citizens perceive that their voices are not heard and their claims have no effect as their life conditions worsen, there is an increase in civic disengagement and thus political inefficacy. The absence of political participation allows for the creation of authoritarian governments and highly polarized political arenas (McCoy and Scully, 2002).

Developing a democracy requires the construction of compromises, based on negotiation and public deliberation. Public life is greatly improved by dialogue among parties with diverse political and social visions (Solares, 1996). According to Habermas (1989), dialogue allows for the building of bridges between different people, destroys stereotypes, and generates understanding through the exchange of substantiated arguments, based on data, life experiences, and diverse knowledge. Hence, consensus may be built upon this type of communicative, rational interactions (Habermas, 1989).

The absence of a minimal degree of mutual respect and willingness to understand others generates conflict and empty discussions, which do not improve public deliberation or the life of citizens. Consequently, these confrontations hold the potential to polarize nations according to their political views. Moreover, they annihilate any possibility of empathizing with people holding opposite views. As this polarization increases, positions grow increasingly apart, forcing people to take sides and ostracize those with views even marginally different from each group (Salmela and Von Scheve, 2018).

During the last five years, this has been the case of the political arena in the United States, with President Donald Trump skillfully utilizing conflict and permanent chaos to increase his popularity and, in the process, gain control and allegiance from the Republican Party and its voters (Milmo, 2021). Next, we review the conceptual evolution of populism.

The Conceptual Development of Populism

For Hermet (2003), the modern concept of populism arose at the end of the xix century as an effort to understand different political and social movements driven by underprivileged masses demanding better living conditions from their governments. Most leaders of these populous upheavals were agricultural or factory workers, with charismatic personalities and left-wing ideological agendas. In the 1930s, the classic concept of populism arose, with underprivileged groups striving to gain representation within their governing bodies due to the lack of consideration of their worsening living conditions and increasing inequality. For Conniff (2003), this type of populism is composed of masses of populous groups, from diverse economic and social sectors, engaging in political movements led by opportunistic yet skillful leaders. Their political actions are legitimized by representing "the people", a notion that lives to this day. This concept is also used by populist leaders in their campaigns to seek social and economic restitution for those most in need (Conniff, 2003).

In the 1960s and 1970s, the concept of economic populism was developed. This idea considerably increased public spending in social protection programs, especially in health, housing and education. Economies at the time focused on protecting their internal market by applying high import taxes and increasing the size of governments, as well as maintaining high wages and high expenditure by using the surplus from exporting commodities, typically in the energy sector. During this period, governments created numerous public enterprises, focusing on providing high-paying jobs but not as much in operating efficiently; this created massive deficits throughout the 1980s, which led to markets crashing and international crises (Rapoport and Brenta, 2010).

During the 1990s, neo-populism emerged, led by political outsiders trying to gain support from underprivileged sectors, with a key promise: a total economic and moral overhaul of the political system. Such leaders, many of them coming from industrial elites, advocated for neoliberal reforms to the economy and cutting the size of government, in particular, leaving markets to regulate themselves and supporting trickle-down economics as a principle that reduces inequality. These movements presented traditional politicians as morally corrupt, freeloading parasites profiting from inefficient and archaic institutions. These populist leaders sought to revitalize the economy by: growing the industrial sector, liberalizing trade by cutting import taxes, selling government companies and allegedly creating jobs, as well as attracting foreign direct investment and international ventures to install their operations in their countries (Tushnet, 2019).

Conniff (2003) observed that these movements claimed several electoral victories mainly due to three key factors: a) ineffective distribution of public resources, perceived as contrary to the general interests of society; b) growing insecurity and crime rates; and c) low economic performance, exacerbated by cyclical widespread economic crises which impacted the poorest sectors in society. Neo-populist leaders used effective political marketing campaigns to project the interests of those sectors historically "left behind", calling on "the people" to stand with them in reclaiming democratic governments and making the State work for them. Established political parties and previous administrations were blamed for every problem in society, while these outsiders portrayed themselves as saviors of their nation, basing their success on merit and hard work. As mentioned, these political leaders came both from economic elites and blue-collar sectors, such as union leaders, solely sharing their rejection for traditional politicians and established parties (Conniff, 2003).

According to Laclau and Mouffe (cit. Smith, 1998), the expansion of neoliberalism and the need to find a more equitable form of government requires a "radical democracy," and a new political identity where social movements such as feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, could join small business owners, workers, educators, and other groups to form a great coalition and restore basic rights. These authors recognized there is no clear picture of what a Marxist state could look like. While still adhering to a left-wing agenda, they accepted that building a post-capitalist system is not possible at this moment in time. Populism could be led by left or right-wing politicians, and the unifying cause would be recovering basic social protections, much diminished by prevalent neoliberal governing and economic institutions (Smith, 1998).

From the beginning of the 21^st century, populism can be considered as an opposition movement, originating from the accumulative shortcomings of neoliberal democratic systems and its adverse socioeconomic effects on millions of people worldwide. At this point, populism became an expression of anti-politics, a total rejection of traditional parties and institutions. According to Mudde (2004), this populist view divides society in two groups: the corrupt elites and the honest and hard-working people. In this view, the sole purpose of politics is to serve as a vehicle to materialize the will of the people.

According to De Raadt, Hollanders and Krouwel (2004), populism presents a political promise to attain an ideal world with greater justice and equality. Thus, populists resort to a redemption narrative, filled with popular nationalistic symbols to fabricate a national identity and attract massive support from the most impoverished sectors of society. The main goal of these political movements is to attain powe. Hence, their discourse is full of grand promises of revolution and change but is rather scarce in specific measures and policies on how to achieve them (De Raadt et al., 2004).

In terms of political communication, De Vreese, Esser, Aalberg, Reinemann, and Stanyer (2018), consider populism as a communicative strategy based on messages targeting elites as the enemy of the people. Hence, populist leaders sow discontent in the minds of the masses by aggrandizing the mistakes committed by previous administrations, blaming the government for their adverse social and economic conditions, while exacerbating mistrust in democratic institutions. Political outsiders driving these movements combine anti-systemic and anti-political views, while presenting themselves as the sole saviors and redeemers of the nation and its people. Their discourse seeks to divide and further polarize the nation, discombobulating the political arena with constant personal attacks and scandal. However, the populist leader promises to be the only one capable of bringing order to chaos and of delivering prosperity to masses of hard-working, yet forsaken patriots (De Vreese et al., 2018).

For this article, we adopt the concept of right-wing populism created by Salmela and Von Scheve (2018), as an ideology based on the existence of a nefarious economic and political elite, subject to foreign interests, willing to sacrifice the nation in exchange for personal profit. This populist rhetoric creates resentment towards those groups and individuals who, with little personal effort, enjoy a lavish lifestyle. These political outsiders tend to blame a heterogeneous collection of "others" for the nation's misfortunes; this group includes high-paying public servants, refugees, foreigners, the unemployed, and all those perceived as free-riders to the system. These populist political movements depend on transmitting the idea of an allegedly homogenous nation, composed of the hard-working class, suffering the consequences of government abandonment and a pernicious yet intangible global economy (Salmela and Von Scheve, 2018).

Right-wing populists use fear and insecurity to make the people feel hopeless and unsafe, channeling this despair to gain support and reach political power. These populists use the concept developed by Carl Schmitt, a Nazi jurist, of the absolute enemy, which is a group, class, or race of people culprit of every evil in society. Fear, one of the most powerful human emotions, serves their purpose of unifying a polity, thus channeling their anger to achieve power (Mehring, 2014).

For Rivero (2016), these political outsiders seek to end the status quo, governmental inefficiency, corruption, and abuses of power committed by the establishment. Naturally, this creates a division between adherents to the movement and all others. As a result, this generates a highly polarized political arena. These populist movements mobilize their followers by aggravating differences and creating conflict through incessant incendiary statements and fabricated scandals. Normally, right-wing populists espouse conservative values, especially the protection of the heteropatriarchal family and religious freedom, which translates as the defense of practicing the dominant creed shared by its followers (Rivero, 2016).

For this article, we introduce the concept of Trumpian populism, which is a type of right-wing political movement, grounded in nationalistic and xenophobic values, with a solid neoliberal economic orientation, which uses an inflammatory rhetoric to create an environment of permanent crisis. Trump follows traditional populist ideals, such as representing "the people", being a "savior" to his nation, while craftily exploiting the new social media to directly appeal to his political base. Trump innovates in populism by exploiting and expanding an already polarized political arena. By using daily scandal, and breaking with any political traditions, he creates a chaotic environment, bombarding the public sphere with false information, while jeopardizing public trust in government and its institutions. These are the elements we will analyze in our storytelling methodology.

Donald John Trump inherited a fortune from his father, a real-estate developer from Queens, later expanding the family business to Manhattan where he became a socialite, known for his lavish lifestyle and exuberant behavior (McAdams, 2016). Trump created a non-profit organization, the Trump Foundation, which was closed for illegally misusing charitable funds for political purposes. In this case, Trump had to pay more than two million dollars due to misconduct, as he used the money obtained by his foundation to pay for his presidential campaign (James, 2019).

Another key element of Trumpian populism is having a political outsider successfully appropriating one of the two main parties in the United States. Since 1987, Donald Trump changed his political affiliation five times, ranging from democrat to republican and independent until 2012, when he finally turned republican, especially considering Trump was a known democrat for most of his life. Notwithstanding his weak republican lineage, Trump has taken over the Republican party, naming people of his inner circle to key positions, creating a massive following, and maintaining his influence even after his presidency (Crump, 2021). Now, we move to another unique element of Trumpian populism, the political base (Smith, 2020).

The Trump campaign's narrative has always focused on appealing to white voters without college degrees, especially from rural backgrounds in places where globalization has hit the hardest over the years. Trump's slogan has been a true political marketing success. Make America Great Again has attracted millions of voters, even its acronym MAGA, is now a widespread term used to identify supporters. Since 2016, MAGA rallies have drawn thousands of people wearing the now-iconic red trucker hats, calling on true American patriots to reclaim their land and Make America First. However, the success of this new type of populism could not be completed without appealing to a more affluent sector of society, the fiscal conservatives, more traditional Republicans, who seek tax incentives for large companies and corporations, by promising to uphold the rule of law and by focusing on strengthening the American position in the global market (The Conversation, 2020).

According to Zhang and Burn-Murdoch (2020), Trump has provided the type of incentives and fiscal policies necessary to attract wealthier, more conservative families and large corporations; a reflection of this is the historical performance of Wall Street during his administration. In demographic terms, 57 percent of white people voted for Trump in 2016, this represents 45 percent of the electorate. From the total number of voters, Trump got 63 percent of white people without college degrees; 56 percent of those making less than 50,000 dollars a year. Conversely, Trump obtained 51 percent of voters making over 100,000 dollars a year and 87 percent of conservatives (Pew Research Center, 2018).

This represents a paradigmatic change in right-wing populism, as it draws the poorest and the more affluent sectors of the population together, under the guise of Christian conservatism while pushing an essentially neoliberal economic agenda. Aside from these policies, Trumpism developed a political marketing campaign based on daily scandals, incendiary statements, and sustained attacks on democratic institutions and the establishment. This strategy proved successful in the 2016 presidential race when, by consistently intoxicating the political arena, Donald Trump portrayed himself as the only option capable of delivering the people from corruption and poverty (McCammon, 2016).

During his presidency, the 45^th president of the United States was impeached by the House of Representatives for exerting pressure on Ukraine in exchange for political information and support in his reelection campaign. As Republicans held the majority in the Senate, he was later exonerated. However, he skillfully used this scandal to portray himself as a victim of the establishment. Trump claimed he was being persecuted due to his campaign to eradicate corruption in Washington (Orr & Lippman, 2020). This communication strategy is another key element of Trumpism, which captured relentless support from an extremely faithful political base even after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. In fact, this resulted in a violent riot at the United States Capitol, while congress was summoned to ratify the election's results (Roberts, 2021). In the following section, we present political storytelling as the method used in this article.

Political Storytelling

This research method is developed by the school of political marketing and uses a series of strategies to analyze discourses used to attain power through the exploration of narratives contained in media messages (Liebhart and Bernhardt, 2017). Such messages can be linguistic, para-linguistic, or kinesics. This method also examines the context of the messages, such as the events where they take place, and the role of politicians or commentators as storytellers. These elements create a specific narrative that is ultimately used to reach power and increase political support (D'Adamo and García, 2016).

For Núñez (2008), storytelling is a communicative tool used by political candidates to gain support through narratives that focus on certain issues faced by specific social groups and how the establishment has failed to address them. This method targets selective audiences by spreading messages designed to trigger strong emotional responses, thus channeling this anti-systemic energy in support of a single person and his "movement." According to Scott (2011), this tool represents an essential human activity, telling these stories to generate a cultural product, constructed around shared memories and perceived identities. This emotional resonance drives people to rally around certain issues, which are communicated by the leader with a heightened urgency. Consequently, people are drawn to a larger cause, while immediately building a sense of community (Scott, 2011).

Political storytelling, according to Van Hulst (2012), seeks to generate powerful emotional responses in electors, more so than generating debates or offering concrete responses to public issues. This type of communicative strategy focuses mainly on persuading, congregating, and moving electors through the use of anti-systemic and anti-political messages. Another key element is a sustained attack on institutions, which erodes public trust and reinforces the idea of a single savior. Storytelling tries to create a chaotic public sphere, by bolstering government's shortcomings, which creates frustration and anger in the electorate, thus calling on patriots to destroy the status quo (Van Hulst, 2012).

Donald Trump used the same strategy as those following Schmitt's ideas, accusing foreigners of being rapists, drug dealers, and of stealing away the American dream from hard-working patriots. Trump used the idea of menacing hordes of criminal immigrants to unite many like-minded voters against this common cause, thus, consolidating his political base (BBC News, 2016).

For Mäckelmann (2017), current political campaigns are relying heavily on personal politics, where the character and the charisma of the candidate matter more than his ideological platform or his party. This style of politics creates voluntary and involuntary stories, which are immediately and massively communicated through social medi. Before being banned from Twitter, Donald Trump had close to 90 million followers. During his campaign and administration, Trump used this platform daily to communicate with his base, having a powerful megaphone to disclose his every thought at all times (Friedersdorf, 2016). We consider this highly effective use of social media to be another key element of Trumpian populism.

In this article, we will use the categories proposed by Richard (2011) to analyze Trumpian populism: a) storyline, which builds on the candidate's image and identity by augmenting personal successes and favorable personal qualities; b) timing, which focuses on the political junctures of the historical moment, exploits systemic and opponents' weaknesses and reinforces the contrasting qualities of the challenger; c) framing, used to analyze the context of the narrative, looking at the political and economic conditions surrounding the story; and d) networking, which looks at how each story is replicated, communicated and its impact on mass media (Richard, 2011).

Based on Garcia and D'Adamo (2015), the storytelling method presents traditional messages with a beginning, middle and end, but they can also have a setting, followed by a confrontation and a climactic conclusion, if they have a distinguishable logical sequence. Another necessary element is causality, where one history must lead to the next, thus building a progression of events. Effective storytelling requires simplicity, so the narrative needs to be easy to follow, yet filled with symbols and expressions broadly based on popular culture (Friedersdorf, 2016). Messages must be uncomplicated and simple to remember, painted with images and phrases prompting strong emotional responses. The candidate's iconography should create an immediate sense of community and a shared identity based on a greater cause, which leads to collective action (Garcia and D'Adamo, 2015).

This article analyzes three speeches made by Donald Trump at different times: 1) during his campaign, 2) while in office, and 3) at the end of his administration in order to observe its evolution. We use the following storytelling categories to identify the elements present in our concept of Trumpian populism:

Trumpian Populism Analysis

In the following section, we review three of Donald Trump's speeches: the first one when he announced his run for president in 2015; the second after being exonerated from the first impeachment trial; the third after he refused to concede following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. The following table was constructed using the publicly available transcript as published by Time Magazine (2015).

Concluding Remarks

As we first established, building a modern, solid democracy requires an energetic, yet peaceful confrontation of ideas to develop any functioning government. Factual debate and ideological diversity allow for the construction of a more representative and accountable system of government. However, as presented in this article, a chaotic media strategy, fueled by daily scandal, extreme political polarization and a relentless cult to personality, allowed Donald J. Trump to become the 45^th President of the United States of America. During his time in office, Trump developed a particular style of political communication, filled with popular symbols, and nationalistic rhetoric which successfully created a highly energetic and mobile political base. Nevertheless, he further extended the divide between conservatives and progressives, republicans and democrats, by appealing to the WASP demographic majority in the United States.

Trump was extremely successful in capturing not only the vote but also the full support of millions of Americans, many of them from rural, impoverished areas, who were hit hardest by the neoliberal economy and globalization. Trump spoke in classical populist terms to those forgotten by the government, who felt left behind, giving them the promise of a cause larger than themselves and a massive political movement. Trump gave hope to people who feel they are losing their country, and was able to capture and control one of the two main political parties in the United States.

Trump normalized breaking the law and using racist, xenophobic language, while being permanently immersed in scandal, thus causing severe damage to the social fabric of the United States. Donald Trump was the first U.S. President to be impeached twice, yet acquitted both times by a Republican-controlled Senate. His defeat in the 2020 Presidential election puts a halt to his time in power, but his influence has undoubtedly continued. During his administration, Trump appointed more than 234 federal judges, including three Supreme Court Justices. His legacy in shaping the nation's judicial system and polarized sociopolitical arena will be felt for generations to come.

Notwithstanding Trump losing the election, he obtained more than 74 million votes, the second-largest in any Presidential election. Hence, Trump will have a more profound legacy as he has jeopardized the confidence in the United States electoral system. To this day, millions of Americans feel the election was rigged, that Trump was robbed, and believe democratic institutions are a hoax. President Joseph R. Biden has many challenges ahead but rebuilding trust in the institutions of government will have to come first to save the immediate future of the United States of America.

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