In a lecture on bipolar disorder to neuroscience students, Dr Darren Roddy related Donald Trump’s erratic and irrational behaviour to the manic aspect of the condition. Grandiose belief in his own ability, inappropriate social and sexual behaviour and a decreased need for sleep were all behaviours displayed by Trump throughout his campaign as he tweeted at 3am, claimed that he would single-handedly rejuvenate America and was accused of multiple sexual assaults.
Though Roddy made clear that he was not diagnosing Trump, merely using his behaviour as a topically illustrative tool for teaching mania, other lecturers in Trinity will be forced to delve deeper. For the majority of students in Trinity, Trump’s campaign and subsequent electoral success came as a major shock. But we’re not the only ones: lecturers across diverse departments will be forced to reassess their modules and teaching materials in light of this unexpected result. Trump’s election implies that America’s social landscape is not what many of us thought it was. Critical analysis will change as a result.
America’s profound influence both internationally and historically means that many modules across diverse departments will touch in some way upon the country. Some, such as the politics module ‘Government and Politics in the USA’ are inextricably linked. Others, such as legal modules on trade laws, will alter only if Trump follows through with the erratic promises he made throughout his campaign. Regardless, lecturers in Trinity are shaken following the result. Speaking to The University Times, Dr Constantine Boussalis, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, agreed that Trump’s election “certainly comes as a shock to the field of political science”, and will likely prompt much “soul-searching” from those invested in American politics. Few had seen this outcome as a viable option. Trump was effectively a “complete outsider”, lacking any of the elements that Boussalis and other scholars thought of as necessary for electoral success, including “widespread and strong party endorsements, party financial support, newspaper endorsements and avoidance of politically incorrect speech”. His win has plunged critical analysis into uncharted territory. While Trump may not ultimately follow through on radical policies, the team he has amassed around himself in recent days are radical themselves.
Trump’s election implies that America’s social landscape is not what many of us thought it was. Critical analysis will change as a result
Indeed, Boussalis identifies international environmental treaties as potential victims of a Trump administration. Trump has stated that the idea of global warming was “created by and for the Chinese”. Myron Ebell, named as Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advisor, does not agree with the scientific consensus on climate change, opposes the Clean Power Plan that would see regulations applied to carbon emissions and urged the US Senate to vote against the Paris Climate Agreement. Boussalis calls these early moves by the Trump administration “credible signals” that they may try to remove America from international agreements on climate change, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The reality is that “the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases – the United States – will soon be led by a President and Republican-led Congress that deny the very existence of the problem”. This will change the very nature of analysis in his lecture on global environmental politics.
For Trinity’s School of Law, discussions on international human rights may have to be reconsidered in light of Trump, although the specifics remain unclear. Many of his campaign statements were contradictory and even impossible to legally implement, such as radical promises of more brutal torture methods. To renege the ban on waterboarding implemented by George W Bush in 2006, Trump would need to bring Congress onside as well as inventing new torture methods that somehow do not contravene the prohibitions against torture in US and international law. Speaking to The University Times, Dr Rosemary Byrne, an associate professor in the school who teaches the International Human Rights module, agreed that “it is very difficult to discern what [Trump’s] concrete policies will be and the impact that they will have on the regimes that have been established to promote and protect human rights”. However, rising currents of anti-globalisation will likely have profound impacts on international treaties in general, and also on those with a particular focus on human rights.
Other treaties threatened by a Donald Trump presidency include Nato, the intergovernmental military alliance that Trump has called a bad deal for the US and branded as “obsolete”. At the very least, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is likely dead, as both Trump and rival candidate Hillary Clinton decried it throughout their campaigns. Dr Caoimhin MacMaoláin, associate professor in the School of Law who teaches an International Trade Law module, acknowledged that “there may end up being more trade disputes due to American actions”, as well as bilateral international trade agreements. Large structures such as the World Trade Organisation are likely safe, which means the module likely won’t change much. However, uncertainty strongly characterises discussion across different Trinity departments, meaning that specific policies will not be analysed in class for some time. Michael Wycherley, assistant professor in the Department of Economics, emphasised that uncertainty characterises many of Trump’s policies, meaning he “won’t be specifically analysing them”, although students will still hopefully acquire the skills to analyse different trade policies and so will be able to assess a Trump presidency from an economic standpoint.
The result on November 11th came as a shock to academia, as many of “the educated elite assumed the normality of values that we all share”
However, this election will not solely affect concrete aspects of trade, human rights, and the many other policy areas Trump identified during his campaign. His triumph also spells the end of analysis as it had previously been carried out in many US-related modules. For Dr Gavin Morrison, a teaching fellow in the Department of Political Science, his Contemporary Political Theories module will be significantly altered by both the reality of Trump’s election and the ideology that propelled him to power. In conversation with The University Times, Morrison identified “the emergence of the alt-right as a genuine force in US politics” as a powerful factor that will be integral to future analyses. Many of the issues covered in the module – such as torture, climate change, gender and acts of war – will be changed as a result of Trump’s presidency, impacting upon discussion of contemporary political theory. While this could be expected, in that contemporary powers should indeed be discussed in modules on contemporary issues, Prof Ciaran Brady of the Department of History also expects an altered historical focus in light of Trump’s election and the contentious campaign that preceded it.
Teaching two modules of American history at freshman level, Brady anticipates that although “it will be a while before there is a lecture on the Trump election”, historical analysis of concepts like neoliberalism and feminism will shift instead. Brady acknowledges that the entire election season of 2016 has been unprecedented in many ways, explaining that “the politics of neoliberalism have created not a single reaction, but a bifurcated reaction”, with Sanders’ policies seen as radical on the left and Trump covering new ground on the right. The result on November 11th came as a shock to academia, as many of “the educated elite assumed the normality of values that we all share”.
The normality of these values has been thrown into question by the American elections, which saw millions vote for Trump, including those from demographics he actively insulted throughout his campaign. Historical study of feminism, in particular, will change: Brady points to “the element of simple misogyny” in Trump’s success, asking “how deep is this and where does it come from” and reconsidering analysis in light of the fact that “women can be misogynist against women”.
Teaching in Trinity’s Department of History will be changed by the issues highlighted in Trump’s campaign and election. Brady emphasises that “as historians, we won’t be thinking about the Trump presidency, but will be using this experience to think critically about those themes”. The same altering of analysis will occur in other departments too. From foreign policy to LGBTQ rights, both Trump himself and the administration he is building will have a profound impact on critical and theoretical analysis, as well as on the concrete details of policy – though uncertainty around his capacity to implement all this still remains.
