The Political Outsider Of Populism In The United States

In 2016,Donald Trump,a populist,won the presidential campaign in the United States.He was the first political outsider to be elected president in the history of the United States for more than two hundred years.Before that,he had no political experience,and he had never even held a civil or military position.Trump holds an absolute populist style,a clear anti-establishment stance,and a large number of right-wing populist ideas.His victory equals the victory of populism in the United States.How did the phenomenon of political outsider appear in the wave of American populism? What role did Trump’s political identity and style play in the populist victory? And how did they work? This article discusses these issues.The main points of this article are as follows: The tradition of populist style is the historic-cultural source of the political outsider phenomenon in the United States.The appearance of American political outsider caters to the needs of populism trends and populist style and it is a reaction to the crisis of elite governance;The identity of "be outside of the establishment” represented by populist political outsiders empowers themselves,and political outsiders use populist styles that flaunt the “low” appeals to express right-wing conservative positions.The identity and style helped the political outsider to get close and resonate in the "heartland".This promoted the victory of populism.Beginning from the "socio-cultural" concept approach of populism,this research argues that populism represents a political style of performance,expressing people’s social and cultural demands in the "low".Populism emphasizes both bad manners and strong leadership of individualism.Populists use these appeals as a bond and a means of mobilization to build connections with the people through performance.Populist practices in American history have formed the special political style in which populism flaunts the "low".This kind of populist style has been used continuously by the political outsider.This article concludes that the emergence of political outsider is a practical need to deal with crises.The current elite governance in the United States has encountered serious challenges in economy,social culture and politics.The crisis of establishment governance has provided impetus for populist style and has further spawned the phenomenon of political outsider.Political outsiders maintain strong anti-establishment stances and populist tendencies.They expressed populist sentiment to resolve the crisis and provided concise populist solutions.This thesis analyzes the influence mechanism of the identity and populist style of political outsider based on Trump’s example.We demonstrate that Trump has constructed the image of populist political outsider from four aspects: a political outsider away from the power circle,a man who witnesses and discloses establishment’s political corruption,a member of "the silent majority",a strong conservative leader.At the same time,Trump is accustomed to using demagogy to conduct a "transgressive" performance that appeals to the "low" by confronting his competitors.By a retrospective analysis of the distribution of Trump’s votes and the reasons for voters’ support,this article finds that Trump’s supporters conform to the image of the American middle class,which is exactly the "heartland" he called for in the populist mobilization.Moreover,Trump’s political personality and style are the reasons why a considerable number of people support him.This has become an important support factor for his victory.