Concerns about ongoing inflation in the United States have exploded in recent years, and this is one reason for the election victory of Donald Trump, writer and American studies lecturer Frank Albers believes.
While the concerns about inflation are more a matter of perception, US poverty rates remain high, Albers noted in a lecture he delivered on Thursday evening at the University of Antwerp.
Analysing the recent election campaign in the USA and the historical roots of Trump’s success, Albers began with a humorous “minute of silence for the victims of disinformation” spread by Trump’s “deceptive tactics.” However, he stressed that the issue is more complex than just “fake news.”
Professed ideals versus historical reality
The United States has long struggled with the contrast between its professed ideals and the realities of its history, Albers explained, referencing the genocide of Native Americans, slavery, and high poverty rates compared to other developed nations.
Trump’s slogan, Make America Great Again', attempts to “save these ideals from the facts,” according to Albers. He added that, while the slogan evokes nostalgia, there is no clear answer to when America was actually “great.”
Yet Trump’s nostalgic and utopian vision continues to resonate, Albers observed.
Breaking away from the traumas of past decades
"People want to get rid of the mistakes and traumas of past decades," Albers noted, referring, besides the economy, to the migration issue and the wars into which the US threw itself with varying degrees of success. "A majority really think that ‘it’ used to be better."
Millions of US voters see Trump as the person who embodies the belief that you can return to a better past, Albers concluded.
