Political Commentators Analyze the Rise of Trump

Political commentators Bill Kristol ’73 and William A. Galston analyzed the unprecedented outcome of the recent election of President-elect Donald Trump at an event Thursday.

“Post-Election Roundup,” a biennial bipartisan event hosted by the Center for American Political Studies and the Program on Constitutional Government, also featured remarks by Boston College professor Susan M. Shell and a discussion moderated by Government professor Harvey C. Mansfield ’53.

Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Clinton administration adviser, began the discussion emphasizing the role that the need for change played in shaping the election.

“The single biggest block in the electorate gave pride of place to a candidate who could ‘bring about change,’ and that is where Mr. Trump won the election,” Galston said. “You know, in an odd way, Donald Trump’s campaign was the mirror image of Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008. A promise of change, details to come.”

Kristol, editor of conservative-leaning magazine The Weekly Standard, agreed with Galston’s take, saying that the political message of change pushed Trump over the edge.

“When people are in the mood for change, it’s hard to stand up against it,” Kristol said. “I always said that if Trump were going to win, it was going to be because the desire for change overcame the hesitation about Trump personally.”

In his remarks, Kristol also added that Trump’s message was successful at personally connecting with voters.

“The one thing I thought he did very well, was he said Hillary Clinton’s slogan is ‘I’m with Her’ and my slogan is ‘I’m with you,’” Kristol said.

Shell, who is the chair of the Political Science Department at Boston College, discussed how Trump’s message tapped into feelings of anxiety present in many voters.

“Trump’s uncivil and frequently outrageous assaults against political correctness were wildly effective, I think, in their implicit promise of honorable redemption,” Shell said.

Shell, who organizers originally assigned to comment on the election of America’s first woman president, also discussed issues with government welfare.

“People want respect more than they want handouts,” Shell said. “Handouts can be a symbol of respect, a share of the spoils, as you were, that one deserves, or they can be the opposite, a sign that one is pitiable. I think that Democrats across the board have tended to ignore this fact.”

After the four-hour event that included both presentations and dinner, attendees remained puzzled over how to deal with American voters’ decision.

David Shiple, a healthcare consultant who said he attended the event to hear Kristol, expressed his perplexion over attacks on the Trump voters.

“You have 60 million Americans who did something that people did not expect, and it can’t be just described and called high school education mites or bigotry,” Shiple said. “I mean, 60 million people voted for Trump, so you can’t just explain that away by saying these people are idiots.”