The Travails of Trumpification

by Timothy W. Luke

Also available in Kindle ebook format at Amazon.com.

In this series of critical essays written over the course of Donald J. Trump's presidency, from its chaotic early days to its calamitous end, Timothy W. Luke explores how the recent twists and turns in the civic life of the United States have precipitated a dangerous transformation of American political culture. Since 2016, Trump's will to attain, and then retain, his office by whatever means necessary crossed red lines never before violated by any previous presidential administration. Even before his loss in the 2020 election, Trump sought to discredit America's electoral process by challenging legal voting practices in key swing states on social media, in the courts, through executive agencies, and finally with violent riots, culminating in the disastrous attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Yet while Trump himself no longer remains president, the "Trumpification" of the American political system persists today, with the majority of Republican politicians as well as Trump's millions of devoted followers still firmly in the grip of his influence. The goal of the critical probes collected in this volume is to evaluate the "travails," or excessive tribulation, pain, hardship, anguish, and agony, that his dangerous demagoguery has inflicted—and continues to inflict—on the nation's democratic institutions and processes.

Timothy W. Luke on the Telos Press Podcast

The Telos Press Podcast featured a panel discussion of The Travails of Trumpification, with Timothy W. Luke, David Pan, Fred Siegel, and Mark S. Weiner. Listen:

Praise for Timothy W. Luke's The Travails of Trumpification

"Democracy is in crisis in the United States, and under the Trump regime the crisis turned into an impending catastrophe. Timothy W. Luke's The Travails of Trumpification provides a brilliant and much needed analysis of the forces that produced Trump and its dire consequences. It also provides an insightful and crucial rendering of the danger that Trumpism continues to pose to the nation. Luke provides both a language of critique and an urgent call to act quickly to prevent both the idea and the reality of democracy from coming to an end. This is a book that should be read by everyone concerned about the fate of the United States and the future itself."
—Henry A. Giroux, McMaster University Professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest and Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy

"Timothy W. Luke's The Travails of Trumpification critically engages the rise, dangers, and continual threats to U.S. democracy generated by the Trump presidency. Luke documents that Trump was a malevolent figure even before his forays into politics, and took his arrogance, narcissistic self-interest, contempt for democracy and the public, and destructive tendencies into his presidency. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the 'Trumpification' of America and how Trump, his prejudices, his policies, and his base continue to threaten U.S. democracy, the environment, and our health and well-being. Well documented and argued, this is a book every U.S. citizen should read who is concerned with the United States' survival and the values and traditions that constitute the best aspects of U.S. democracy."
—Douglas Kellner, Distinguished Research Professor of Education, UCLA, and author of The American Horror Show: Election 2016 and the Ascent of Donald J. Trump (2017) and American Nightmare: Donald Trump, Media Spectacle, and Authoritarian Populism (2016)

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. The Dissipation of American Democracy in 2016: On the Emptiness of Elitism and the Poverty of Populism in the Trump Zone

2. Seven Days in January: The Trump Administration's New Environmental Nationalism

3. Science at Dusk in the Twilight of Expertise: The Worst Hundred Days

4. The Ambiguities of Memory and Ambivalences of Monuments: Confederate Memorials in America

5. Two Years of "Making America Great Again"

6. The Gun Sanctuary Movement: Pistol-Packing Preppers or Passionate Peaceful Populists?

7. The Crises, Conflicts, and Contradictions of "Nixonland": Constitutional Crisis in the United States from Nixon to Trump

8. America's Continuing Current Crisis: The Matter of Black Lives

9. At the Dawn of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Administration of Fear and Fear of Administration in the United States

10. Democracy under Threat after the 2020 National Elections in the United States: "Stop the Steal" or "Give More to the Grifter-in-Chief"?

11. January 6, 2021: Another Day That Will Live in Infamy?

12. The Changing Public Sphere in America: The Fragility of Civic Awareness, Common Community, and Electoral Democracy

ISBN 978-0-914386-84-1 (paperback) • 978-0-914386-85-8 (ebook)
Pub. date: December 1, 2021
164 pages