Important Points that Emerged from Trumps Documentary - Literature review Example

Politics Name Institution Date Introduction Important points that emerged from Trump’s Documentary (MSNBC, 2016): A trump administration would not allow Muslims to enter the United States, he would also ship 11 million illegal immigrants out of the country and erect a wall between Mexico and the United States. Tramp appeals to an injured sense of nationalism among whites particularly the uneducated. Trump's rating keep rising despite a campaign that lacks in substance. Trump is racist, sexist and a bully who confronts all his opponents and bullies them into submission. Some people feel Trump's success as real estate entrepreneur can help transform the country economically although he has no sound economic policies. The US Presidential Election System The documentary reveals several characteristics of the US presidential race. The US presidential election is an indirect election where the president is elected by an electoral college (Blanco and Canon, 2014). The electors are representatives of the 50 states which are voted in by the general population in the states. The number of electors from each state equals the number of senators and representatives in each state. The number of representatives in each state is dependent on the population of the state. The documentary argues that trump can win the republican nomination race but cannot win the presidential race. The presidential voting systems makes it more difficult for trump to win (Wooldridge and Micklethwait, 2011). In most states the winner of the states presidential race takes all the Electoral College votes (Blanco and Canon, 2014). However, many states have substantial Latino and black population who are disenfranchised by Trump. In Maine and Nebraska, only two of the electors are elected in a winner-take-all fashion. The other electors are determined by the party that wins in each congressional district (Blanco and Canon, 2014). In the Electoral College, each of the representatives of the Electoral College has one vote. The winning candidate needs a majority of votes from the Electoral College to win the presidential race (Blanco and Canon, 2014). According to the documentary almost two-thirds of Americans do not like Donald Trump and if this translates to the Electoral College voting he would lose easily to his democrat challenger. Party Affiliations by Groups The documentary points out that Trump may win the Republican nomination race as his message resonates with the republican support base. According to Hacker and Pierson (2011), the Republican Party gets most of its support from Whites, and is particularly strongly supported by less well educated whites. Other key supporters of the Republican Party include evangelical Protestants and the silent generation. On the other hand, the Democratic Party is more closely identified with Hispanics, Asians, Blacks, Millenials and well-educated Whites (McKay, 2009). It is not surprising that most supporters of the Trump campaign speak of his campaign and ideas enthusiastically although most do not make sense (MSNBC, 2016). One woman says that Trump will make them wealthier, and also asserts she does not care how Trump will make them greater. Most of Trump’s supporters say that Trump talks for them and are proud to identify with the Trump campaign. Donald’s ideas of racism are very controversial as shown by his attitudes toward Mexicans, Muslims and immigrants. However, many of the Republican supporters do not care and have continued to support Trump despite his controversial stand on race and immigrants (McAnaney and McAnaney, 2007). Trump promised to bar Muslims from entering the US, but his ratings continued to increase despite these atrocious comments. This may be explained by the fact that most Republican supporters are white (Putnam, Campbell and Garrett, 2012). According to MSNBC (2016), 50 per cent of American whites are Republican supporters while only 40% of whites support the Republican Party. Among blacks and Hispanics, the Republican Party trials the Democrat Party as 80 per cent of blacks are democrat supporters. On the other hand, the 56% of Hispanics support the Democratic Party. This means very low numbers of Hispanics, Blacks or Asian Americans will vote in the republican presidential elections. This may be why Trump easily mistreats Mexicans who dare to ask question at his campaign rallies. It is also why Trump is able to exaggerate Black crime statistics without any reduction in support ratings. Trump is also very sexist as shown by his disparaging comments towards women in the campaign trail. At some point Trump commented that a woman was very ugly. The comment was followed by a warning from American women who say there are listening to his comments. This sexist’s attitude may be a result of the realization that 36% of American voters lean towards the Republican Party. The Republican Party is also strongly supported by uneducated white Americans. This support base is unlikely to complain about Trump’s irresponsible campaign remarks. According to the MSNBC (2016), trump remains popular as he is able to appeal to uneducated white Americans who feel threatened by Muslims, blacks and immigrants. However, Trump may go on to win the presidential election if democratic voters fail to turn-up for the presidential election on voting day. According to Samuel (2012), the United States has the worst voter turn-out among developing countries. More than half of the American electorates fail to turn-up to cast their votes. Theoretically, Trump would be able to win the election if he is able to convince all the republican voters to vote. This is based on the assumption that Democratic voters turn-up remains as low as in previous election (Dreher, 2015). The lower voter turn-up in American election is worrying as it could allow undeserving candidates to win the presidential race. In an effort to understand the low voter turn-out in election some reasons have been offered for the apparent voter apathy. A number of reasons are given as explanations for the very low voter turn-out in US elections. The first reason for low voter turnout in the US is the requirement for voter registration. According to McKay (2009) most democracies do not require citizens to register for voting. Instead, Citizens just turn-up at the polling station and cast their votes without requiring any prior registration. Registration means that thousands if not millions of unregistered voters are barred from casting their votes on polling day. Secondly, the US holds its elections on a Tuesday which is unappealing for most people. In most cases, most people prefer to miss the presidential vote as it clashes with their schedules. The United States also practices voluntary voting and bars felons from voting. Donald Trump’s seems bent to use any means possible to win the presidential races. Trump fails to condemn an incident where his supporters are captured on Video beating up a black man. This shocking turn of events gives rise the idea that Trump may use voter suppression to prevent his opponents’ voters from exercising their voting rights. Voter suppression was evident in the 2008 presidential race when 98,000 Georgia voter were purged from the voter register (Mann and Ornstein, 2013). A candidate like Trump might use other legal and non-legal means to prevent his opponent’s voters from casting their votes in the November election. The documentary clearly shows that Donald trump is a person who is ready to use any means to capture the presidency. Some of his techniques may include voter suppression. Trump’s ability to leverage his strengths and hide his weaknesses gives him a major advantage over his rivals in the presidential race. Trump is also able to bully most of his opponents to submission (Dreher, 2015). In several debates he was able to beat Jeb Bush and surpass him in ratings as Bush could not respond well enough to Trump’s provocative speeches and personal attacks. Trump’s main strength comes from his ability to campaign effectively and dare his opponents. Trump is also an accomplished real-estate businessman who has been able to complete some of the biggest construction projects in the United States. Trump has presented himself as a candidate who is able to rebuild the American economy and make the country great again (Dreher, 2015). However, Trump temperament worries many voters as they question the suitability the man for the presidency as he is quick to anger. Trump has to contend with his main republican rival Ted Cruz who is said to be principled and intelligent. Cruz always displays a positive attitude towards other candidates and has praised Trump on several occasions. If Trump wins the Republican Party nomination, he will face-off either with Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders; both formidable opponents. Hillary Clinton is viewed as the frontrunners in the republican nomination race. According to Dreher (2015),Clinton’s main strength’s lie in her political and campaign experience. Hillary was an opponent to current president Obama in the race for the Democratic nomination 8 years ago. She later served as the Secretary of State giving her rich experience in governance and economic policy. Conclusion Trump’s 2016 documentary as aired by the MSNBC highlights the main campaign strengths of the republican presidential nominee candidate. Trump has been able to appeal to the republican support base with his abrasive and insensitive campaign messages. Fans of Trump continue to support him no matter how bad his views on immigrants, economy and foreign affairs. Some expect Trump to win the Republican Ticket but to go to lose to the democrat candidate in the November Presidential polls. References Blanco, W & Canon D. (2014). American Politics Today. WW Norton. Dreher, R. (2015). Our Trump-ish, Cruz-y Future. Retrieved from: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/our-trump-cruz-future/ Hacker, J.S. & Pierson, P. (2011). Winner takes all politics. Simon & Schuster. La Raja, R. J. (Ed.). (2013). New directions in American politics. Routledge. Mann, T. E., & Ornstein, N. J. (2013). It's even worse than it looks: How the American system collided with the new politics of extremism. Basic Books. McAnaney, M. A. N. F. A., &McAnaney, L. E. H. F. A. (Eds.). (2007).Religion and American Politics: From the Colonial Period to the Present: From the Colonial Period to the Present. Oxford University Press,  McKay, D. (2009). American politics and society. John Wiley & Sons. MSNBC (2016). Donald Trump Documentary 2016. Retrieved from: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cqJQKzpBAmg Putnam, R. D., Campbell, D. E., & Garrett, S. R. (2012). American grace: How religion divides and unites us. Simon and Schuster. Samuel, L. R. (2012). The American Dream: A Cultural History  NY, Syracuse University Press, 2012. Wooldridge, A., &Micklethwait, J. (2011). The Right Nation: Why America is Different. Penguin UK. Read More