Just Google the words: Trump Postmodern
"Donald Trump is not a conservative—he’s a reality TV star thoroughly in tune with the passions and dynamics of mass publicity and social media. No matter how much he denounces them, he’s still a product of victim-based identity politics."
From Donald Trump: At Home in Postmodern America http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/12/16133/
We saw moments of post-modern thought in past presidents. Reagan ("Facts are such stupid things"), Clinton (the word games during his testimony re Lewinsky ) and Bush 2 (Rhetoric during the lead up the 2nd invasion of Iraq). I am not claiming that Donald Trump conciously embraces postmodernist philosophy in his world view, nor in his performance art*.
But, when i look at his campaign behavior to date, i think it is not far fetched to describe his ideas and their expression as "postmodern", philosophically.
Postmodern Philosophy.
" Walter Truett Anderson described postmodernism as belonging to one of four typological world views, which he identifies as either
(a) Postmodern-ironist, which sees truth as socially constructed
(b) Scientific-rational, in which truth is found through methodical, disciplined inquiry
(c) Social-traditional, in which truth is found in the heritage of American and Western civilization
(d) Neo-romantic, in which truth is found through attaining harmony with nature and/or spiritual exploration of the inner self."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism
Postmodernism regects certain Enlightenment values, such as:
Grand narratives
The primacy of rationality
The existence of objective reality
The concept of absolute truth
Objective moral values
Truth is considered a variable social construct. Also, in postmodern sociopolitical writing, critique far outweighs the promulgation of structured, potential solutions.
Postmodernism is also considered to be an element of the modern version of identity politics. This, apart from Trumps frequent use of dog whistles, is part of his appeal to his core support (non-college graduate "white" males).
This is the most interesting and may be the most important presidential election during my life so far.
* His style exhibits a sort of conceptual bricolage. Words are a central feature, recycling of past styles and elements, collage, simplification, and a creative freedom from the empirical world.
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