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Politics


DONALD TRUMP AND THE POLITICS OF FEAR

Trump’s candidacy relies on the power of fear. It could be the only way for him
to win.

By Molly Ball
September 2, 2016
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People are scared,” Donald Trump said recently, and he was not wrong.

Fear is in the air, and fear is surging. Americans are more afraid today than
they have been in a long time: Polls show majorities of Americans worried about
being victims of terrorism and crime, numbers that have surged over the past
year to highs not seen for more than a decade. Every week seems to bring a new
large- or small-scale terrorist attack, at home or abroad. Mass shootings form a
constant drumbeat. Protests have shut down large cities repeatedly, and some
have turned violent. Overall crime rates may be down, but a sense of disorder is
constant.

Fear pervades Americans’ lives—and American politics. Trump is a master of fear,
invoking it in concrete and abstract ways, summoning and validating it. More
than most politicians, he grasps and channels the fear coursing through the
electorate. And if Trump still stands a chance to win in November, fear could be
the key.

Fear and anger are often cited in tandem as the sources of Trump’s particular
political appeal, so frequently paired that they become a refrain: fear and
anger, anger and fear. But fear is not the same as anger; it is a unique
political force. Its ebbs and flows through American political history have
pulled on elections, reordering and destabilizing the electoral landscape.



This week, Trump delivered a speech on immigration that depicted outsiders as a
frightening threat. “Countless innocent American lives have been stolen because
our politicians have failed in their duty to secure our borders,” he said. His
acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention similarly made clear the
extent to which his message revolves around fear. “The attacks on our police,
and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life,” Trump
thundered. “Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our
country. Americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of
violence in our streets and the chaos in our communities. Many have witnessed
this violence personally; some have even been its victims.”






ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Molly Ball is Time magazine’s national political correspondent and a former
staff writer at The Atlantic.

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