From Class War to Race War: Historicizing the Devolution from New Deal Populism to “Trumpism”.
Year: 2022

This thesis historicizes the seemingly aberrant case of White working-class support for Donald Trump. Specifically, the debate focuses on three major tropes that recurred throughout Trump's speeches and campaign materials: an ongoing attack on a nebulous group of "special interests," an attendant demand for a return to "law and order," and a celebratory appeal to an undefined "silent majority". Using Ernesto Laclau's theorization of "floating signifiers" to frame my debate, this thesis analyzes