Point of View
Social Education 80(1), pp 36–41 ©2016 National Council for the Social Studies
Teaching in the Time of Trump Benjamin Justice and Jason Stanley On March 4, 1801, President Thomas Jefferson delivered one of the nation’s finest inaugural addresses, after participating in one of its most politically divisive election cycles. Seeking common ground in an inherently unstable democratic republic, the author of the Declaration of Independence urged his audience: Let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions…. Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.1 What were the necessary principles of American government that transcended the vast diversity of American life? The first on Jefferson’s list—and on the list of most democratic theorists ever since— was political equality: “Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political,” he explained. Not yet equality for those whose brutal enslavement powered the economy (and his own personal fortune), nor yet for women, or the poor, or countless others, but nevertheless a principled equality that allowed for reasoned deliberation among citizens.
Even today, when the logic of democracy has propelled our society to a more inclusive (and still yet unjust and unequal) place, we take for granted that first, fundamental principle: that democracy can flourish only when democratic deliberation is guided by a norm of reasonableness. To be reasonable in one’s conduct towards others is not the same as being guided by the facts (although facts are certainly important). It is rather about being open to other perspectives, the perspectives of one’s co-citizens. The norm of reasonableness has a long history in democratic political thought. The best known contemporary formulation is that of John Rawls, who maintains that people are reasonable when they propose standards for cooperation that are reasonable and justifiable for everyone to accept. Reasonable people are also ready to discuss the fair terms that others propose, and abide by the results of reasonable deliberation. Reasonableness requires respect for the opinions of others and a willingness to discuss them.2 Policy designed to apply fairly to everyone requires deliberation that takes everyone’s perspective into account. Jefferson’s point is that the stability of democracy as a system depends upon a well constituted state, one in which the people are not sealed off from the perspectives of their co-citizens by fear, panic, or hatred. A general belief that Jews are out to deceive will undermine reasonable public discourse, for example, because it will lead citizens to discount the actual perspective of their S o c i a l E d u c at i o n 36
Jewish co-citizens. In such a society, it would be no surprise to discover antiSemitic policies. We now face an election in which one of the leading candidates, Donald Trump, is using fear, panic, and division to attract support. A CNN/ORC poll from May 29–31 registered Trump at 3 percent support. In his speech on June 16 announcing his candidacy, Trump made the following, now infamous, statement: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” Instead of being punished for such divisive and offensive speech, however, Trump was rewarded. The next CNN/ORC poll, from June 26–28, had Trump at 12 percent, behind Jeb Bush (19 percent). A poll conducted from July 22–25 had Trump leading the GOP pack with 18 percent, and subsequent polls established him as the frontrunner. Trump’s lead became commanding after his suggestion that Muslims be banned from visiting the United States. Trump’s campaign is notable not only for its messages, but for its media. With over 5.5 million Twitter followers and 4.5 million Facebook fans, his campaign is unmatched in its mastery of social media. He has sidestepped more traditional vehicles, eschewing expensive television advertising, for example, for low-cost, low-production