The Affect of Trump: Ressentiment, Marginalization, and the Policing of Surplus Migrant Life

• In Event: The Politics of Crime, Marginality, and Policing

Abstract

In June of 2015, real estate tycoon and reality television boss, Donald Trump, publicly announced his run for the top office in the United States to an ecstatic crowd of supporters in New York City. In a tour de force, Trump spared no time in blaming America’s economic and social ills on other countries like China and Mexico. In the case of Mexico, Trump went further than anyone could have ever fathomed to claim that Mexico sends “people that have lots of problems” to the United States. According to Trump, drugs, rapists, and crime are what Mexico sends. Shortly thereafter, Trump declared that his “solution” to the immigration “problem” would be to deport all estimated 11 million undocumented migrants and their American born children.

In the wake of such inflammatory remarks, news and social media outlets across the country were thrown into a frenzy of commentary that ranged from avid support for his xenophobic rhetoric to complete dismay. At first, political pundits dubbed Trump’s candidacy for president as a joke. Close to a year later, however, Trump’s success in the primaries has political pundits, Republicans, and many Americans appalled at the possibility of Trump winning the nomination for the Republican Party. This paper aims to explicate the Trump phenomenon utilizing affect theory and a Frommian perspective, as well as provide a window into a critical analysis of Trump’s political rhetoric which has amplified the marginalization and policing of surplus migrant life.

Author

• Omar Montana, The Graduate Center, CUNY