5 The Ballot of Donald and Hillary: Hateful Memories of Celebrity Leaders
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Gary Alan Fine
Abstract
Why are some political leaders hated? Examining the public responses to the major party candidates in the 2016 Presidential election in the United States, we analyze the animus directed towards Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. We argue that candidates with celebrity reputations and who have been previously well-known are particularly likely to be targets of intense discursive abuse. Hatred becomes part of the identity of that part of the population that considers them as threats to democratic order. Partisans draw upon Trump’s persona from the 1980s as a vulgar celebrity whose real estate business was corrupt as well as his well-publicized questioning of Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Despite the fact – or perhaps because – Trump was once a liberal democrat, the rejection is visceral. Hatred for Hillary is transferred from the long-standing distaste for her husband, coupled with sexist sentiments directed at middle-aged women. Significantly, the dislike for both candidates during the election was sexualized, as was true for both Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. We speculate that President Joe Biden, lacking a contentious backstory, will be spared some of the hatred that other politicians receive.
Abstract
Why are some political leaders hated? Examining the public responses to the major party candidates in the 2016 Presidential election in the United States, we analyze the animus directed towards Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. We argue that candidates with celebrity reputations and who have been previously well-known are particularly likely to be targets of intense discursive abuse. Hatred becomes part of the identity of that part of the population that considers them as threats to democratic order. Partisans draw upon Trump’s persona from the 1980s as a vulgar celebrity whose real estate business was corrupt as well as his well-publicized questioning of Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Despite the fact – or perhaps because – Trump was once a liberal democrat, the rejection is visceral. Hatred for Hillary is transferred from the long-standing distaste for her husband, coupled with sexist sentiments directed at middle-aged women. Significantly, the dislike for both candidates during the election was sexualized, as was true for both Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. We speculate that President Joe Biden, lacking a contentious backstory, will be spared some of the hatred that other politicians receive.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface: Interpretive Lenses in Sociology – On the Multidimensional Foundations of Meaning in Social Life vii
- Notes on Contributors xii
- Acknowledgments xvii
- Introduction: Interpreting Contentious Memories and Conflicts over the Past 1
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Interpreting Memories in the Social Dynamics of Contention
- On the Social Distribution of Soldiers’ Memories: Normalization, Trauma, and Morality 29
- Feminist Approaches to Studying Memory and Mass Atrocity 49
- Mobilizing Memories: Remembrance as a Social Movement Tool in the Vieques Anti-Military Movement (1999–2004) 69
- The Ballot of Donald and Hillary: Hateful Memories of Celebrity Leaders 89
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Racism, Exclusion, and Mnemonic Conflict
- Building a Case for Citizenship: Countermemory Work among Deported Veterans 113
- Commemorations as Transformative Events: Collective Memory, Temporality, and Social Change 134
- Contentious Pasts, Contentious Futures: Race, Memory, and Politics in Montgomery’s Legacy Museum 154
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Genocide, Memory, and the Historicizing of Trauma
- Remembrance and Historicization: Transformation of Individual and Collective Memory Processes in the Federal Republic of Germany 177
- Enlisting Lived Memory: From Traumatic Silence to Authentic Witnessing 197
- Changing Memories of the Shoah in Post-Communist Countries: New Memories and Conflicts 217
- How Difficult Pasts Complicate the Present: Comparative Analysis of the Genocides in Western Armenia and Rwanda 236
- Conclusion: Memory and the Social Dynamics of Conflict and Contention: Interpretive Lenses for New Cases and Controversies 258
- Index 266
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface: Interpretive Lenses in Sociology – On the Multidimensional Foundations of Meaning in Social Life vii
- Notes on Contributors xii
- Acknowledgments xvii
- Introduction: Interpreting Contentious Memories and Conflicts over the Past 1
-
Interpreting Memories in the Social Dynamics of Contention
- On the Social Distribution of Soldiers’ Memories: Normalization, Trauma, and Morality 29
- Feminist Approaches to Studying Memory and Mass Atrocity 49
- Mobilizing Memories: Remembrance as a Social Movement Tool in the Vieques Anti-Military Movement (1999–2004) 69
- The Ballot of Donald and Hillary: Hateful Memories of Celebrity Leaders 89
-
Racism, Exclusion, and Mnemonic Conflict
- Building a Case for Citizenship: Countermemory Work among Deported Veterans 113
- Commemorations as Transformative Events: Collective Memory, Temporality, and Social Change 134
- Contentious Pasts, Contentious Futures: Race, Memory, and Politics in Montgomery’s Legacy Museum 154
-
Genocide, Memory, and the Historicizing of Trauma
- Remembrance and Historicization: Transformation of Individual and Collective Memory Processes in the Federal Republic of Germany 177
- Enlisting Lived Memory: From Traumatic Silence to Authentic Witnessing 197
- Changing Memories of the Shoah in Post-Communist Countries: New Memories and Conflicts 217
- How Difficult Pasts Complicate the Present: Comparative Analysis of the Genocides in Western Armenia and Rwanda 236
- Conclusion: Memory and the Social Dynamics of Conflict and Contention: Interpretive Lenses for New Cases and Controversies 258
- Index 266
