2016 Presidential Race And Gender Analysis

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“I’m also honored to have the greatest temperament that anybody has,” stated by president elect, Donald Trump. The 2016 presidential race has ended with Donald Trump being its victor. White America voted for an elitist, racist, and sexist champion of white supremacist values to lead the United States for four years, and with huge talks of re-election in 2020. Much of how this nightmare for many has come to fruition is how Donald Trump navigated the American systems of oppression regarding the media portrayal of minorities and women, utilizing the “southern strategy” to campaign, and his ability to vocally spew and incite racist actions to White America. The rest of America continues to question the safety of their American values and rights …show more content…
“The media has potential to cast doubt on a woman’s suitability to be commander in chief or in the wings.” (Issacs 2016). Western society inadequately values masculinity over femininity and because of this it is reflected in our media. Characteristics of masculinity described by western societies specifically American culture include: strength, aggression, and independence. In comparison to feminine values that are normally described in relation to masculinity and characterized as: sympathetic, warm, and fragile. These descriptions of masculine and feminine traits are coupled with the fact that these nationally held views are circulated mainly through stereotypes of both men and women. This played out when two women ran in the 2008 presidential election and in the 2016 election as well. “The female candidates (Palin and Clinton) faced lose-lose situations regarding their personas. They received criticism for exemplifying characteristics of their own gender.” (Issacs 2016). Moreover, Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and Carly Fiorina faced backlash since they attempted to overstep the stereotypes of their traditional gender roles in a society that still values patriarchal succession. Donald Trump took advantage of the media portrayal of these notions by only spending 10 million dollars in president advertisement versus …show more content…
The War on Drugs encompasses mass incarceration and is described as “a system of racial and social control” by Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. This movement is used to have financial and political gains from the imprisonment largely of Black and Latino identifying men in the United States. Donald Trump exclaiming his support for Stop and Frisk act and its’ practices are one of the many ways he pushes to enforce the War on Drugs. Trump commemorates President Nixon’s declaration for the War on Drugs and even his political use of the southern strategy while campaigning. Like Nixon, president elect Trump campaigned heavily in purple states like: Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia. He did that in comparison to Obama in 2012 and Clinton this presidential race who deterred from the success of Obama’s campaign route. “The 2012 campaign estimate that in three states- Florida, Indiana, and North Carolina- Obama would have lost if the number of voters activated by the campaign.” (Masket, Sides, Vavreck 2016). Hillary Clinton failed at following a successful campaigning strategy of her Democratic predecessor, President Obama, while Trump played into the racial resentments and fear of increasing racial demographics in potential Republican voters in purple and red

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