User:Skanye11/Celebrity influence in politics

Donald Trump's Use of Insult Politics to Gain Celebrity Influence Amongst Voters.
Donald Trump’s speech where he unapologetically labels Mexicans as "criminals" in his first primary debate after having announced himself as a candidate. Achieved a goal in trying to relate with a certain demographic of voters first by targeting a common enemy that him and his voters can relate with and side against as suggested by Noam Chomsky’s book manufacturing consent which mentions people in power pushing propaganda by siding against a common enemy. Secondly this also achieves in creating the image of him being this tough guy different from other candidates that is not afraid to share his opinions to the American public. This ability of negative campaigning to focus all eyes on the candidate is arguably the backbone to why Donald Trump is in office at the time this article was written. Being that negative campaigns consists of “criticizing [opponent’s] programs, accomplishments, qualifications, and so on” Winberg (2017) drawing the line on what should be and not be used in carrying out such a campaigns is blurred. To some extent the argument can even be raised that almost anything can be divulged to the public so as to strengthen discussions held in the social media public sphere looking to elect a leader for their nation.

Donald Trump's Celebrity influence on Political Competitors.
Donald Trump calling John McCain a “loser and deny[ing] he was a war hero” even though the term loser is so subjective and evidence of John McCain serving in the Vietnam War is accessible to the public. These insults still enter the public sphere as viral topics and are not easily dismissed in the evaluation of the targeted political candidate. Quite the opposite is actually observed as the public seeks to observe how the candidate will respond either by simply dismissing the claim or possibly stooping to the same level. A response that shares its own advantages and drawbacks within social media as discussions held within that space are out of the control of the targeted candidate. For example voters who were initially for the candidate may be thrown off by their leader following the antics of another leader by stooping to his/her level- whilst in the same breath other voters may be thrown off by the fact that their favoured leader showed little to no fight against the claims made. Thus leaving targeted candidates fighting uphill battles to regain confidence in voters instead of sticking to the foundation they had hoped to set their political campaign upon.

This ushers in the term populist, which is “language…speakers conceive of ordinary people as a noble assemblage not bounded by class”. In other words voters dissuaded by a targeted candidate’s ability or inability to respond to insults can leave them in a grey area where they may find themselves feeling as if they will have to make a decision between two evils as in the case of the most recent election In the United States of America where many left winged Americans found Hilary Clinton difficult to vote for given how reserved she was on allegations such as the infamous deleted emails. The argument here being that whether she deleted those emails or not- what role does this information actually play in the policies set out in her campaign? Expanding on this question can prove to be difficult when surrounded by headlines such as “Hilary Clinton: the shameful conclusion…to her emails debacle” ; provided through social media. A headline that automatically seeks to degrade more then inform, with that said once a voter is in such a conflicted space the voter will be willing to re-evaluate their favoured leaders, this is where high school enters the world of politics and the most popular candidate becomes the king or queen of the school prom. Of which just like in high school who is popular and who is not can range from likability, respect and how voters relate with a candidate without really taking into account the character of that individual. Thus when a candidate such as Donald Trump is labeled the “perfect populist” in a New York Times article for claiming to be a “blue-collar billionaire…work[ing] for the average Joe” whilst actually having “scant evidence” of his polices working towards such an image. A possible conclusion can be drawn that the actual policies candidates are proposing have been alienated within the political sphere and a popularity contest has taken its place through the use of insult politics. It is important to note that Donald Trumps popularity was not fully predicated on people choosing between lesser evils but also out of a surprising sympathy he obtained for what he stood for regarding freedom of speech.

Justin Trudeau's Use of Image Management Amongst Voters.
The narrative of where Justin Trudeau stands with regards to his morals and reputation are made clear before any attacks from opposing candidates can cause any real damage. In other words, as Lalancette mentions in "The Power of Political Image": voters who are observant to what Justin Trudeau is politically doing through actions such as him placing women and minorities in positions of power. Creates a benefit of doubt within social media conversations as these actions are documented and shared on visually stimulating social platforms. Thus his voters themselves can easily defend an attack on the Prime Minister’s character without the need for Justin Trudeau and his team to fire back with their own political attack.

The Effectiveness of Image Management for Justin Trudeau
The most recent and possibly most controversial example of this would be in Canada’s recent political elections where the current Prime minister was identified taking part “in blackface when he was a student and a teacher” Howard (2019). A racist practice that whether those part taking in it realize it or not. Is considered deeply immoral given the anti-black motivations lying underneath. An attack such as this would have easily discredited the public image of a politician within the public sphere. However much like trump, voters sought to sympathize with Justin Trudeau by offering excuses such as him being young and ignorant due to the public knowing his character to be other wise. When the reality of the matter is that “blackface says more about personal failings” Howard (2019), which should be considered and not easily brushed of by means of confirmation bias. With that said it is important to note that media personally divulged by Trudeau’s team “is reinforced strategically through a process of selection and editing pictures” Lalancette (2019), before eventually posting them on social media. The strategic aspect not only comes from the content of what he is posting but when and where the political climate is at the time. “Through a hybrid quantitative and qualitative approach” Lalancette (2019), quantitative being the rigorous amount of data acquired and qualitative being the extent to which the information gathered is credible. Evidence can be gathered through screenshots of posts on Instagram as well as captions and hash tags used to explore how Trudeau’s celebrity brand “is anchored in his youth, athleticism, open-mindedness, interpersonal skills and support of feminist causes” Lalancette (2019) particularly as elections come closer- resulting in more posts and content surrounding these core values.