Itās been more than five years since President Donald Trump descended the escalator in Trump Tower in Manhattan to announce his presidential campaign. At the time, most of the country scoffed and dismissed his candidacy as dead on arrival. After running a campaign like no other, he won the 2016 election.
Four years after being sworn into the office of the President of the United States, Trump leaves office today on January 20, 2021, having overseen an era of political history that contained unthinkable events and brought attention to the growing threat of far-right extremism.
Dalhousie sponsored a panel Tuesday on the eve of President-Elect Joe Bidenās inauguration, inviting distinguished experts, including a Kentucky state senator, to discuss the phenomena of āTrumpismā and what the future will hold in the context of the January 6 riot in Washington D.C.
Theresa Rajack-Talley, Dalās vice-provost of equity and inclusion and panel moderator, opened with remarks addressing the extraordinary insurrection at the capitol building.
āItās horrifying and shocking, but not surprising,ā she said.
Thriving on chaos
Kentucky state Senator Gerald Neal, a Democrat, joined the conversation and offered his take on how Trumpās brand of politics fits into the United Statesās historical and social framework.
āThis individual has no moral centre,ā Senator Neal said about Trump. āHe also takes advantage of an environment of chaos.ā
Throughout his campaign, President Trump consistently spread lies, suggesting the results of the election canāt be trusted. After he lost, he purported that his loss was illegitimate.
āHe maintained, āWell, if I donāt win, then there must have been fraud,ā Senator Neal said. āHe set the predicate before the election.ā
Isaac Saney, director of Dalās Transition Year Program, connected Trumpās assertions of election fraud with the systematic disenfranchisement of African Americans and their impact on the election results.
āIn a sense, itās the idea that, yes, he was cheated, because African Americans exercised their limited right of voting under what we might consider ābourgeois democracyā,ā said Dr. Saney.
Trumpism as anti-democratic
Rachel Brickner, a professor in the Department of Politics at Acadia University, says we can ādefine āTrumpismā as a political process or political project that is fundamentally anti-democratic.ā
āItās fueled by a disconnect from truth and perpetuated through media, social media and the right-wing media ecosystem,ā Dr. Brickner said.
Dr. Brickner noted the importance of lies as a core component of āTrumpism,ā but all of the attendees cited in their remarks the significance of the United Statesās history of white supremacy in the context of the Trump era, especially how entrenched it is in the countryās institutions.
āThe most widely circulated images lead us to overlook that the riot was supported and facilitated by law enforcement officers, veterans, military personnel and Republican lawmakers,ā said Dr. Lisa Skitolsky, the Simon and Riva Spatz visiting chair of Jewish Studies at pilipiliĀž».
An uncertain future
To conclude, the panel turned towards a discussion of the future. Senator Neal recognized it seems that U.S. constitution and system of government is under attack, but he believes ultimately it will prevail.
Alex Khasnabish, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and 
Anthropology at Mount Saint Vincent University, echoed other panelistsā uncertainty about the future and said Bidenās election wonāt eradicate the far right.
āI think over the next few years weāre going to see a real (ā¦) doubling down of this movement and real turn towards directly confrontational conflict with the state,ā said Dr. Khasnabish.
Many of attendees offered their visions of a positive future, suggesting increased community organizing and the results of the 2020 election indicate thereās still a chance for appropriately reckoning with the crisis in American society.
āYouāve got to be hopeful, but you canāt be naive,ā Senator Neal said.