New Populism: Throne Wars - A Political Anthropological analysis of populist leader Bernie Sanders...

Sanjev RajaramAnthropology 519: The Anthropology of Politics, Rutgers Graduate School - New BrunswickDr. Parvis Ghassem-FachandiFinal Paper on Populist Leader in Contemporary World

1Disclaimer: All statements in this paper are only done in the context of this course to show the research I am doing on new populism, and do not reflect my political views, opinions or anything else. Any terms used (such as class, status, wealth , etc.) are only used in reference to the material we read in class and are not meant to comment on any member of society or any specific political group.

The focus of the project is on Bernie Sanders with reference to Donald Trump as these two candidates are considered leaders on two ends of the spectrum of the New Populist Movement. The author of this project does not endorse any one presidential candidate over the other.

Viva la revolución! Stick it to the big man! Fight for the little guy! The average person

has heard these slogans (or at least something along those lines) at one point or another.

Throughout human history whenever there is authority derived from centralized collective

power, words to the flavor of revolution against the powers that be can always been heard in

close proximity. This trend has been so apparent in human history that it even has a modern

term associated with it; ‘New Populism’. New populism is "a political doctrine that supports the

rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite (Borosage,

2014)". This statement might as well have a picture of Senator Bernie Sanders campaign to

presidency alongside its definition in any dictionary or source. Sanders has been called the face

of “new populism” and is adored by college students and the underprivileged across the country,

due to his rhetoric of democratic socialism, which seems to imply a sort of anti-totalitarian power

structure. Some may question etymology, stating that perhaps “new populism” is a new age word

that has a severed link from the term “populism” and much less makes Bernie Sanders a populist

leader. This concern can easily be put to rest by examining the definition of “populism”, which is

“any new collective consciousness push against the prevailing status quo interests of any

Spring Semester 2016 - Monday 2:30-5:30 pmDepartment of Anthropology, Rutgers UniversityCourse Location: RAB 302School of Arts and Sciences. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey


2prominent political sector.” Sanders call to action is for the blue collar workers, college students,

and the underprivileged to supposedly “equalize their rights with the billionaire and top one

percent class” of America, Sander entire message basically states that the status quo of these

higher ups gives them unspoken forms of political and legal immunity which according to the

implications of Bernie’s statements gives them a widely unfair advantage over the lower

socioeconomic classes. This is a rather bold and new statement as very few others have directly

called out the “one-percent” of American society coupled with the advent of social media his

message reaches out ten-fold to the college students and all his other supporters. He defines this

controversial stance in the name of social and economic equality. As expected from a man who

has garnered a huge amount of support from university students, he has great success in the

social media sector of politics and society. The social web is a cluster of ideologies and has

grown in such recent years that even modern anthropologist are using it for field research and

ethnography, as a candidate who is pseudo~anti-establishment, his rhetoric would not have

gotten him far if not for the voice of the web. SocialBakers.com a statistical tool used to analyze

companies and political figures on Social Media shows that Sanders has the highest following

out of all the Democratic candidates for nomination in this election (Ross, 2016) and according

to Poltico News Source Sanders has more Instagram followers than any 2016 presidental

candidate (Gold, 2016). It can be seen that his daily increase on social media has topped any

other presidential candidate for 2016 thus far.



3Analyzing the political form of new populism has become easier than ever in the United

States of America; thanks to social media and the age of information not only the configurations

of the social and culture are readily available and easily accessible but there is a whole another

stage to social media. However the greatest asset of this election to the research of new populism

lay not in the cyber realm but the fact that it can be put into focus by using a counterexample to

Mr.Sanders: Donald Trump. To better understand Bernie Sanders and do justice to the in-depth

analysis of his populist leadership in the contemporary world; “new populism” can be made into

a spectrum with Sanders and Trump being the polar opposite ends of that spectrum. See

Mr.Donald Trump has his own very new collective conscious push against a status quo in this

country, a status quo inadvertently formed by as some conservatives like to say “modern political

correctness and a push from liberal leftists gone crooked [1].” Both Sanders and Trump front a

notion of several failed systems within our government, economic plans, and foreign policies;

paying attention to their linguistics in their individual descriptions of what these failures are they

use strong words that reflect the complaints and outrage of their followers. The social cannot be

ignored in regards to the political. The various social and cultural configurations organize

collective and individual life vis-a-vis the exercise of power and the construction of authority.

Linguists of the candidates not only shape their own social media but bring out the sentiments

and opinions of their followers thereby allowing them a medium in which to better pitch their run

for candidacy. For example Bernie literally echoes the student loan debt complaints that some

college students post images, memes, videos and blogs about; he promises to tax the “billionaire

class” whom the college students often perceive as having this illuminati-like control over the



4government. With this call to taxation he has even gone as far to state that he will make public

education free by evening out the playing field with those higher ups in the sectors such as “Wall

Street”. Some conservative critics (many of whom surprisingly are the variant that are not Trump

supporters) cite this as Sander’s simply complying with the newer generation’s (College Kids)

sense of entitlement, dislike of hard work, and aversion to accountability. To them college

students are on desperate rush to play the victim in order to avoid hard work and Sander simply

speaks the language of compassion but in their eyes he has neglected to condemn the harmful,

selfish shifting of responsibilities towards the hard workers and their own taxes which is deviant

and destructive behavior. Sanders is seen representative of the blue collar workers whom he

demands a minimum of a fifteen dollar wage for; he proclaims that the current minimum wage is

basically a sentence into poverty [2]. It is interesting to see that Trump echoes a similar

sentiment on the student loan debt (though not as strongly as Sanders) while his followers seem

to be divided on the issue based on their linguistics on Facebook [3]; looking at Social Media

again Sander’s supporters are almost completely uniform on this subject in terms of their

linguistics (strong favor against the current student loan debt) [4]. Trump is also noted to have

signaled a willingness to negotiate on the issue of minimum wage and perhaps in favor of raising

the minimum wage though specifics have not been explicitly stated (Jackson, 2016), his

followers seem to be uniform on this subject as well in terms of linguistics and seem to mostly

share a similar sentiment with Bernie supporters on this issue as comments found throughout

social media are ripe with sarcasm, outrage, annoyance and zeal [1][4][5] .



5As such examination of the types of supporters following the Populist leader is important

in seeing how the populist leader will assert their authority to make or fight policies and what

issues they will focus their political power on. As we have observed with Bernie Sanders, it is

quite clear in the types of people he appeals to and undoubtedly evident where most of his

followers and supporters hail from, however to examine this in full detail we need and

conveniently enough have a juxtaposition. It comes in the form of Donald Trump supporters who

seemingly are the very opposite of Bernie Sanders supporters. We have seen very clearly from

the Social Media how different in ideology the two groups of supporters can be but this can be

taken a step further by throwing in the socioeconomic class or rather the class of which the

supporters themselves support or perceive themselves as belonging to. Examining the audience

at both these candidates rally's we can see an interspecific difference in the audience members

choice of clothing and sentiment while a greater intraspecific socioeconomic difference presents

itself among Trump supporters (not only in the form of clothing but also in reported class status)

in the audience than is observed in Bernie supporters. Looking at images it seems the majority of

Bernie supporters embrace the blue collar working class look, this is an attempt to emphasize

their struggle to the country and become “possessed by it” so that their hero Bernie Sanders can

fight and exorcise their personal demons of debt, wages and other social issues they face. While

these people are not driven by a belief in the supernatural, their confirmation biases ring along

the spirit of fetishism without fully observing the letter. For many Sanders supporters no

scientific study is too bogus and no economic inequality oppression scare is too fraudulent or

based on a misconception, for them the current economic system is a capitalist nightmare and



6Sanders promises of wealth redistribution and holding the billionaire class accountable resonate

with these people like how tribes engage in ritual and renewal. Their #FeelTheBern trends on

Twitter and picket signs demanding fifteen dollar minimum wages may address real issues but

they cry out with a rhetoric that likens big bankers to the opposing tribe who put a curse on them

to make a profit. Bernie himself uses a form of possession similar to what is seen in the

descriptions of how cultures try to understand other cultures, Sanders refuses to take any

contributions from big corporations (on his campaign site it states paid for by Bernie and not by

the billionaires) preferring the unconventional method of being citizen funded and even dressing

more urban and partaking in such activities as taking the bus. This is somewhat of an inversion

of the possession that took place in text “In the grip of another culture” where Bernie now takes

the form of the very mortals he is trying to help in order to better appeal to them and show his

devotion to the cause (Kramer,1993) . His own campaign website even states “This is your

movement” and “They’ve got the money but we have the people and together we can win this”,

he implies a sort of detachment from his title of the president and consigns his own power and

authority to the people by emphasizing that “we are many” but “they” (the other presidential

candidates) are one and only push for their own agendas.

Appropriately Mr.Trump’s mode of transport as well as his campaign is quite in contrasts

with Mr.Sanders. Trump prefers arriving in a flashy way sometimes in private planes at and his

own campaign is entirely funded by a billionaire; himself. He of course falls along the more

traditional interpretations of political possession in that his supporters see him as the savior of



7America from weakness and decay. Power belongs to Trump and regulating the country appeals

to him; his business success is an appealing factor to many as politics are often perceived as

crooked and shady, Bernie’s critics cite a different reason as to why Trump is better by

suggesting that Bernie Sanders would actually socialize the economy and bring financial ruin to

the population. Trump has never held a political office but has run several successful businesses

which gives him a lot of credibility in that his presidency would be good for the economy. As

stated previously, Trump supporters show a greater intraspecific difference in clothing and

reported class status when observing the audiences present at his rally's. Many of Trump’s

supporters wear business suits and ties while carrying themselves in a noble even pompous

manner, others seem to dress the conservative Christian who are “hard working blue collars who

are sick of having their jobs stolen by illegals” look to them. As different as these two

socioeconomic distributions of Trump supporters are so are their incidence of adherence to

fetishism. The wealthier, less religious supporters are less inclined towards suspicion and

superstition while the more religious supporters have a strong aversion to Barack Obama, Hillary

Clinton and Bernie Sanders seeing them as liars, deluded, and even devils while in their eyes

Trump is the man who will make America great again by in their own words telling the hard

truth and imposing policies that restore the glory of the USA. The most radical minded of his

supporters often coin Obama as the Anti-Christ but for varying individual reasons (from his

policies on abortion to doubts about his religion and birthplace) and bandwagon jump on

Trump’s own statements of Hillary being crooked, often backing him up with original research

and images with witty captions against Clinton. Trump himself believes strongly in “putting the



8Christian God back into America” specifically in the public sector is where he believes the God

of the Bible belongs. With a large portion of Trump supporters being highly conservative

Christians the fetishism rings very true on himself and amongst these specific individuals of his

following. However it vibrates with more of a more phantasmic form of fetishism rather than a

wariness of supposed political forms of oppression via class divides that the Sander’s supporters

subscribe too. Conservative Fundamentalist Christians often believe that leaders who do not

represent strong Christians values and refrain from making references to God are either

influenced by the secular (by extension demonic) or are anti-Christian. They prefer a candidate

who not only strongly represents Christian values but one who actively has their type of blaming

condemnation in their linguistics especially towards other religions such as Islam. Donald Trump

fits the bill for this description especially with his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United

States after the Paris attacks back in November. By coupling this rhetoric with his pro-gun views

he was able to garner a huge jump in support from many on the right. The very fundamentalist

Christians view their guns as an extension of the verses in the bible that go along the lines of

“take up the sword to defend against your enemy”, in context the word sword means any means

of physically defend yourself. The guns and the bible has become a symbol for them to represent

their patriotism. A great number of Donald Trump supporters on social media seem to have

images related to these symbols. Leftists and many of Sanders supporters however seem to

attribute an otherness to these symbols and ideologies, using this otherness they attempt to make

them seem barbaric, thereby rendering them easier to dismiss even if they may have a grain of

merit ( in that guns are useful for self-defense) . Bernie himself has never shown strong support



9for or against every American owning a gun, he has however shown great desire for tighter gun

regulation.

While Bernie and Donald both embrace willpower and want to help Americans overcome

great fear, their proposed ways of going about such a wonderful sentiment are similar In some

ways but certainly differ in major areas. Foreign policy withstanding Bernie and Trump both

believe in stronger border control as a similarity ( Trump’s sentiment bring much more

aggressive, opinionated and blunt than Sanders) but drastically differ in their views on domestic

security and privacy. Trump strongly supports the NSA Patriot Act citing that it's is for justice

and the greater good (the safety of Americans) while Bernie vehemently opposed it stating that

security can run its course without intruding on the privacy of the citizens of the USA. As stated

earlier Bernie never opposed nor supported whether more Americans should own guns unlike

other democratic figures like Obama who openly state that if it was legal he would ban all guns.

Bernie however is quite supportive of tighter gun regulation and the ban on semi-automatics

which Donald Trump is ultimately against based on his present stance. Trump stated that the

Paris shooting would have played out differently had “the bullets been flying in the other

direction”, which is a practical solution to a credible threat. While that sentiment is perhaps a

viable response to a situation where there was extreme physical danger another more

controversial incident occurred when Donald Trump looked on as peaceful Muslim woman

wearing a concentration camp star (to symbolize that she was a target of bigotry) was removed

from one of his campaign rallies, while being heckled by Trump’s supporters and though her



10actions could been seen as insensitive to the victims of the holocaust, disruptive to the rally and

invoked shock value rather than making a valid argument, it is important to reference the

incident where two young women from the BLM movement interrupted a Sanders rally in a

much more disruptive way, Bernie did not have them removed despite their extreme rudeness

rather he allowed them to take the podium and speak while his supporters listened without much

interruption. Sanders is responding in a way that reflects his class conscious push against the

status quo: peaceful understanding and letting those without a voice (or those who perceive

themselves as without a voice) to have a say rather than outright brute enforcement of the rules

which sometimes causes suppression. Trump proposed a ban on all Muslims entering the USA

was fully on Mr.Trump and with that it is worthy juxtaposing how Bernie Sanders responded to

an individual who identifies as a Muslim who stated racism and Islamophobia was on the rise.

Sanders called the individual to stage, hugged them and responded “you are right. There is a lot

of anger being generated, hatred being generated against Muslims in this country…. There is

hatred being generated against immigrants in this country, and if we stand for anything we’ve

got to stand together and end all forms of racism...”. They both want to ensure the safety of the

Americans and the way the desire to go about it are largely shaped on the collective

consciousness they represent. In the spirit of liberal college students and blue collar workers who

want to shed their stereotypes (violent deviants who are suspect in engaging in criminal activity)

Bernie Sander's seek to reduce fear through policies of trust and promises of economic equality

while Donald Trump wants iron-tight security and high vigilance to prevent more tragedies from



11vengeful, unpatriotic terrorists and mass shooters who hate and are jealous of the innocent

victims they murder. They both want to protect the USA with absolute justice.

The political ideologies these two represent could not be further from each other, quite

appropriate that they are both respectively said to the right and left. One of the biggest reasons

Bernie Sander is called a Populist leader and the leftist face of the “New Populism” movement

(and also one of the biggest reasons why he was so controversial and had a stigma attached to

him) was because of the political ideology he represents: Democratic Socialism. Democratic

Socialism basic description by Sander is that is the “notion that both the economy and society

should be run to meet the public needs and advocates strong regulations and laws as not to make

only profits for the few.” He believes that to achieve a more just society many structures of the

government and economy need to be radically transformed following the logic that every single

last American must be able to participate in the many decisions that affect their lives. Sanders

gives an expansive summary with examples on his website “ In my view, it’s time we had

democratic socialism for working families, not just Wall Street, billionaires and large

corporations. It means that we should not be providing welfare for corporations, huge tax breaks

for the very rich, or trade policies which boost corporate profits as workers lose their jobs. It

means that we create a government that works for works for all of us, not just powerful special

interests. It means that economic rights must be an essential part of what America stands for.”

[2] Again and again the push against the status quos of the one-percenters is apparent

throughout his entire ideology and is the bedrock of his campaign. His methodology of



12implementing the goals of his collective consciousness push is through several policies that are

seen as radical. His foremost which makes his mark as a populist leader is the fifteen dollar

minimum wage which he wants to implement over the next few years, because he states the

current minimum wage will leave a family in poverty. He also endorsed a strong paid family and

medical leave act because he is outraged at the current state of this policy which does not

guarantee that a working class woman can stay home for a reasonable period of time with her

newborn child. As nice as this all seems the term “socialism” has a very frowned upon

connotation especially here in the USA. In a postmodern society where the red scare is still

taught in schools and where we as a society look unfavorably upon communist nations as being

strict, totalitarian and most frightening to America - Unfree, the term democratic socialism is

quite possibly a huge factor in placing Bernie Sanders under Hillary Clinton. However Sander

argues that America has several quote on quote “socialist” system or rather it wasn’t socialist in

terms of letter or spirit rather it took some concepts of socialism and applied what was practical

to democracy. To his defense he cites several system that were described as socialist when they

first came out that are in place today. Social security which is a specific social insurance

program for the retired and the disabled was “socialist” and was an early push against the status

quo in place at the time in order to benefit the collective elderly who were getting “short

handed”. As Bernie states on his Website “Unemployment insurance, abolishing child labor…….

deposit insurance, and job programs ….. were all described, in one way or another, as

“socialist.” Yet, these programs have become the fabric of our nation and the foundation of the

middle class...” He goes on to talk about how these were all derived from the efforts of populist



13leaders of the past and then goes to reference the Wall Street crisis of 2008. He references this

point as where back in 1937 during a similar situation the policies which came from the

collective push against the status quo of that time brought the country out of its problems. He

further says that while today’s economy is nowhere near as bad as post- Great Depression era

there still are problems that need fixing. He goes on to compare his own policies to a movement

of the people and that the reason it is possible is because there has supposedly been a decline in

the faith of the political systems of the United States of America. Juxtapose this statement with

Trump’s own statements of our country currently have a decline in faith of its government and

that there are many problems to fix and one can see that these statements are almost entirely the

same but the application of how to solve this proposed problem are radically different. Trump

wants to repeal Obamacare (one of the socialist systems Bernie cites) and states his rationale on

his website “To reduce the number of individuals needing access to programs like Medicaid and

Children’s Health Insurance Program we will need to install programs that grow the economy

and bring capital and jobs back to America. The best social program has always been a job –

and taking care of our economy will go a long way towards reducing our dependence on public

health programs”. Clearly however these health programs are condoned and praised by many

blue collar workers, self-employed workers and independent start-ups because it provides them a

most cost affordable health care. These are also very many of Bernie’s supporters who have

greatly benefited from this and they look favorable upon Sanders democratic socialist position

because it benefits them greatly. Trump openly condemns Sanders Democratic Socialist



14ideology as he is by his own words a conservative republican many of his policies are on the

opposite end of the how a democratic socialist would tackle the same issues.

However is Sanders democratic socialism a true democracy and how does it hold up

relative to Donald Trump’s political model? Well to answer these questions and more one must

actually look at what a democracy is not only in letter but one must also observe the spirit of how

a true democracy is implemented. Dictionaries state that the formal definition of a democracy is

a political system in where all the people of that nation are involved in making choices about the

affairs of said nation usually via majority voting for representatives to a parliament. The greek

roots for democracy come out to mean “rule of the people”. It is very hard to clearly and fully

define democracy but several models exist to help for example the dictionaries further go to

make statements that embody the spirit of the word democracy by saying that it is a form of

government that legally and otherwise establishes a society with equality of rights and privileges.

In the article “Democracy and Political theory”, Leforte gives us a good glimpse into what the

spirit of democracy really is like, it is a government forged from systemization of conflict within

the societal realms. Conflicting interests, divergent opinions and even opposing ideologies are all

necessary to legitimize a democracy (Leforte, 1991). As this article was written in 1991 it is

surprising to see how closely our country embodies those preceding behavior observations by

Leforte a great example is looking at Donald Trump compared to Bernie Sanders and Vice

Versa. He also further goes to say that in a democracy the elected leader must disappear as the

political body is forged from his essence; meaning that “power belongs to no one but comes from

everyone”. For sometime groups with shared interests (like Democrats or Republicans) can



15emerge in dominance for a short time (the four year election for president system) but only at the

will of elections. At this point power is no longer tied to any specific program but is a temporary

collection that is put at the disposal of those who temporarily hold power at that time. Looking at

all these definitions by legislature Leforte’s would certainly have no choice to agree that both a

system under Bernie and Trump would both constitute democracies. The spirit of democracy

however is where this all changes. Now Mr.Sanders as we now know focuses mainly on helping

blue collar workers, college kids and anyone who is perceived to be underprivileged and ignored

by society. Now consistent with Leforte insistence of what must emanate in spirit to be a

democracy, Bernie is vehemently opposed to the billionaire class and “Wall Street”-like enttites

who are suppose to operate via mass corruption and oppression of the working class (by profiting

at their expense) so his democratic socialist rhetoric implies that power will be returned to the

people and thereby belong to no one because it will be everyone. However for Donald Trump I

suspect that Leforte would have felt differently. In Democracy and Political theory he states that

“Modern totalitarianism arises from a political mutation a mutation of symbolic order. Claims to

represent the aspirations of the whole people…” now this statement up to this point can both be

applied to both Bernie and Trump but then Leforte goes on to talk about “possessing an

legitamacy above the law” a claim which Donald himself has corroborated as he states that he

could most likely get away with devious crimes due to his status as being extremely wealthy and

influential, while also “being accountable to no one”, most political or public figures do express

their opinions and views but also follow a level of political correctness whereas Trump

absolutely does not, he openly calls opponents crooked, makes statements relating to bodily



16function which would be inappropriate in any general public context and making radical

statements such as a “ban on all muslims” which in this day and age must be held greatly

accountable for but doesn’t; the effect on foreign policy from Trump is also debatable as this

statements are unprofessional and may get the United States in a lot of hot water with some

foreign nations. So according to Leforte the democratic socialist ideology of Bernie Sanders fall

in line with the spirit of Democracy however the implications of Donald Trump seem to fall

within Leforte’s description of what an authoritarian ideology might look like. However

Leforte’s term are marked by vague and incomplete language. What he regard as "democratic" is

every form of opposition and protest against totalitarianism. The opposition and protest creates,

in a way, a democratic space within the totalitarian system. “Democracy is invented by the start

of new movements and designating new issues in the struggle against oppression, it is a "creative

power capable of weakening, even slaying the totalitarian Leviathan". Bernie certainly fights

against oppression and protests against what he considers the equivalent of totalitarianism; the

one-percent billionaire class who have unwritten rights and can get away with heinous

underhandedness such as avoiding taxes with offshore accounts. His character is that of a man

legitimately answering the call to action of underprivileged and unequal citizens of the United

states, that is what embodies the spirit of democracy according to Leforte.

To account for the diversity of various conceptions of what constitutes the political and

the effects of these conceptions on the organization of society. It’s perfect and we can even see

political form becomes imminent in everyday practice, bodies, sensory experiences, memories,



17and identifications. We see everyday practice applying political form through Social Media in

this modern age everyone including all the presidential candidates, government offices and

departments all have social media. Awareness and the stance of each candidate is so well known

because of social media that people can now make better informed decisions than ever before!

Not only that but we can directly see the responses and comments to the statements of the

candidates and their supporters. Not to mention the numerous selfies uploaded with witty

captions that can be in support of candidates, to raise awareness of an issue that a potential

candidate can help with whether a person anecdote or a potential story. We can see the with the

advent of YouTube the live coverage and debates of the candidates and live commentary from

the viewers, this interactivity is unprecedented and certainly affects the election in a discernible

way. Donald Trump videos have surface all over the video sharing sites and one facebook with

plenty of comments, the same with Bernie in fact Mr.Sanders even took a sensory experience, a

rally where a bird landed on his podium went viral with hashtags like Birdie Sanders and World

Peace because of that Sander’s democratic socialism was perceived as less of a threat all because

of a image of a bird and a witty caption! Social Media has a whole another awakened stage to it,

which can triple the impact and response from the citizens of the United States of America.

Before the advent of Social Media voter registration by college students and blue collar workers

was at an all time lower, however when Obama started doing live Google hangouts, Twitter,

Instagram, and Facebook, student interest in political issues increase massively. We even see

this extend to the cinemas where the highest grossing movie of 2016, a Disney animated film

known as “Zootopia” addressed real life issues that surprisingly came at a very good time in the



18presidential campaign process (the movie was released on March 2016). Zootopia is a film that

harmonizes classic disney with modern day society and follows the story of a cop who goes

thorugh the system and see class discrimination (in the analogy of prey and predators), how the

rhetoric of fear is a tactic use to garner political support (which some liken to Trump’s less than

favorable comments about Islam), and the stereotypes (minority of predators being seen as

violent and needing to be banned) as well as how social media affect us and our political and

economic choices each and everyday. Ginnifer Goodwin, the voice actress for the protagonist

Officer Judy Hopps, states that the films scripts seem to echo Donald Trump’s call for a travel

ban Muslims from entering the U.S. and promise to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants

from the country if elected (Siegal, 2016).

In closing we have seen how both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump connotes a deep

suspicion of political, corporate, and media élites; an eagerness to mobilize people who are new

to politics; and a willingness to embrace policies that have long seemed verboten.” On the Bernie

Sanders “front”, it seems to be an initiative to downsize big banks,, shift to a much more

“progressive” tax system, and concerns about the environment and modern day discrimination.

His rhetoric seems to put the blame on the “one percenters” in our society as the reason for

corruption and in his words extreme class divide. This bold rhetoric of total “political revolution”

is especially popular among the lower socioeconomic members of our society as well as college

students who understandably deal with the burdens of loans and tuition.



19Bernie’s rhetoric seems constantly talk about the “one-percenters” overlook the blue

collar workers no matter how hard they may toil and work. In the big companies the CEO’s and

businessmen seem to lounge around, attending only to the up class duties of phone calls with

“the movers and shakers” and the tedious paperwork determining the assets of the company. The

workers can do the most strenuous labors such as the chemical analysis for their new products or

simply clean up but they are usually never seen with the same regard as their superiors.

Obviously the majority of these workers make up the company and the society, Sanders new

collective consciousness push against the prevailing status quo interests of this predominant

political notion makes him the focus of this new age populist movement as the election draws

near and the battle for the “throne” will begin. The “underdogs” of our society which are

supposedly the blue collar workers, college students and minorities who complain of the how

social stratifications wealth divide has inflicted silent horrors on them and drained them to profit

the high and might. They perceive Donald Trump as the very symbol of these higher up “wall

street type” greedy businessmen whom they see as the oppression and benefactors of their

misery. While the accuracy of those rhetoric may be arguable it is certainly true that Mr.Trump

upholds a vastly different collective consciousness than Mr.Sanders. These factors with the

news and how social media has been shaping all of this makes it a juice and ripe time for the

throne wars. This is sure to be an excellent and exciting venture into the the new age of politics.

References:

Citations from online publications (Non-Course Material)



20● Borosage, Robert. "What Is The New Populism?" Truthout. 23 May 2014. Web. 09 May

2016. <http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/23911-what-is-the-new-populism>● Ross, Phillip. "Two Data Points That Show How Bernie Has Trumped Everyone Else on

Social." Socialbakers.com. 12 Jan 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2016. <http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/2482-two-data-points-that-show-how-bernie-has-trumped-everyone-else-on-social>

● Gold, Hadas. "Sanders Bests Clinton on Social Media." POLITICO. 14 Mar. 2016. Web. 11 May 2016. <http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/03/social-media-2016-elections-220286>

● Jackson, Lucas. "GOP Front-runner Donald Trump Signals Willingness to Raise US Minimum Wage." CNBC. Reuters, 06 May 2016. Web. 12 May 2016. <http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/05/trump-signals-willingness-to-raise-us-minimum-wage.html>.

● "Bernie Sanders 2016 Election vs Donald Trump 2016 Election." Bernie Sanders vs Donald Trump. Web. 12 May 2016. <http://presidential-candidates.insidegov.com/compare/35-70/Bernie-Sanders-vs-Donald-Trump>

● Siegel, Tatiana. "'Zootopia' Star Ginnifer Goodwin Says Movie's Relevance to the Current Election "Scares Me"" The Hollywood Reporter. 14 Mar. 2016. Web. 12 May 2016. <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/zootopia-star-ginnifer-goodwin-says-875263>.

Citations from Material from Class● Leforte, Claude. (1991). "Democracy and Political Theory". pg.13-14. Publisher: Polity● Kramer, F. W,, and Malcolm Green. “The Red Fez: Art and Spirit Possession in Africa.”

Chapter: In the grip of another culture. London ; New York: Verso, 1993.

Cyber-ethnographic* Citations In-text citations are denoted by numerical values in this format [#] for cyber-ethnographic citations. i.e [1] for reference 1. Facebook Group. Users are anonymous due to ethical reason concerning ethnography.

1. Facebook Group: “Right Wing News” - comments from some Trump supporters who call themselves conservatives

2. Statements tweeted from Bernie Sander’s Official Twitter page



213. https://www.facebook.com/OfficialRightWingNews/photos/

a.401034789956656.90394.389658314427637/1413235942069864/?type=3&theater

4. Twitter responses, likes and retweets from Bernie supporters and regular users to Bernie Sanders.

5. Twitter responses, likes and retweets from Trump supporters and regular users to Donald Trump.

*denotes anecdotes from anonymous individuals who associate themselves with a certain political groups (i.e leftist Sander supporters or right wing Trump supporters) and their real time comments found on social media like Facebook.


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New Populism: Throne Wars - A Political Anthropological analysis of populist leader Bernie Sanders...

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