Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Sabina Pilchová

Presidential Candidate as the Creation of the Republican Party Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B. A.

2017

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I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

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I would like to thank my supervisor, Mr. Vanderziel, for endless patience and valuable advice.

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Table of Contents Introduction ...... 5 Legitimacy of President Barack Obama ...... 9 Immigration ...... 12 LGBTQ Community ...... 16 Women´s rights ...... 20 Abortion ...... 26 Conclusion ...... 30 Bibliography ...... 33 Summary ...... 41 Resumé ...... 42

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Introduction

When on June, 16 2015 Donald John Trump majestically descended an escalator to announce his presidential run, very few political scholars or journalists predicted he stood a realistic chance of winning the Republican nomination, let alone the presidency.

Some considered his presidential run a publicity stunt for his business empire, while others supposed he was merely looking forward to be the center of public attention and doing everything possible to attract it.

More than nine months later, Jeb ´s failure to fulfill the high expectations the Republican Party had for him and Trump´s surprising lead has caused the

Republican Party to realize that Donald Trump will not disappear anytime soon.

Although great majority of the Republican establishment has spoken against Trump and expressed the view that he does not represent the values and principles of the Party, the features defining recent Republican politics are in direct conflict with these claims.

Many representatives of the Republican Party have been expressing views similar to

Donald Trump´s in recent years and even very extreme positions on issues like the legitimacy of president Obama, the use of torture, women´s rights and the scientific foundation of certain policies, did not damage their position in the Party in any way

(regardless of whether the evidence was on their side).

As I have stated, this is nothing new. Since the seventies Democrats and

Republicans have gradually been moving further apart, with higher and higher percentage of party line votes each year and this process escalated in 2009 with the creation of Tea Party movement, which has greatly influenced the face of American politics ever since. The Republicans have tolerated the occasional racist, sexist or homophobic remarks of their candidates if it meant victory in the political race, which has to certain extent normalized this type of behavior and led to an increased frequency

5 of expressing these views. This led Republicans to believe they need to cater to these louder parts of their electorate, relying on the fact that many would rather vote for a

Republican they hate than a Democrat. For a long time this was best seen at local levels and in the House, but not so much during the presidential races, where the GOP still wanted to secure the votes of moderate Republicans or people politically close to the center.

However during the 2016 presidential race, the conditions have created a perfect opportunity for change. With the war in Syria escalating and refugees pouring into the neighboring states and some continuing their journey with hopes of living in Europe or the United States, the fear of the unknown has grown to unbelievable proportions and the population was starting to disregard the humanitarian side of the crisis and focus just on the potential security threat. String of terrorist attacks and the media replaying the horrors over and over again to attract viewers has contributed to a shift in culture, where dehumanizing refugees and ignoring their mistreatment becomes normal. Hand in hand with this process of radicalization goes another one, regarding all immigrants.

With favorable political climate, the rise of a presidential candidate like Donald

Trump was an inevitable repercussion of GOP policies and rhetoric and will ultimately lead to changes in the Republican Party. Many members of the Republican establishment dislike him and his style of politics, and even though he won the presidency as their candidate in such a spectacular way, most of them are not overcome with joy and feelings of victory. Understandably, they are worried about having nominated such an unusual president, who demonstrates every day his tendency for impulsive and childish behavior without any regard for what consequences it may hold.

It has also proven to be particularly difficult for the Republican Party to transform from

6 just criticizing policies and talking about repealing them to actually creating and negotiating them.

This thesis aims to demonstrate the connection between the politics of

Republican Party in recent years and how it lead to a candidate like Donald Trump. The methodology of this thesis consists of analyzing numerous quotes from the elected representatives of the GOP and comparing them to those of Donald Trump as a candidate. I will focus predominately on the period between the start of campaign season and the election night on November 8, 2016 and the image of both Donald

Trump and the Republican Party in the media discourse. My main goal is to disprove the claim of some Republicans that their Party was somehow hijacked by a populist businessman and they do not hold any responsibility for the success of Donald Trump.

The hesitation among many Republicans to endorse Trump when he became their party´s presumptive nominee demonstrates this line of thinking, which as I will demonstrate is flawed.

Republican senator Kelly Ayotte has even stated she would support Donald

Trump without endorsing him. Nonetheless, she plans to vote for him in November.

(Raju, Trudo 2016) It is necessary to mention the endorsements as well, since they are not really supportive in their nature, for example the following one is from Ben Carson.

"Even if Donald Trump turns out not to be such a great president, which I don't think is the case, I think he's going to surround himself with really good people, but even if he didn't, we're only looking at four years as opposed to multiple generations and perhaps the loss of the American dream forever.” (Trudo 2016)

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced he “is not ready” to endorse Trump, manifesting yet again the reluctance of Republicans to embrace their presidential nominee. It needs to be noted how unusual this proclamation was. A party nominee has

7 never failed to gain the support of a House speaker or majority leader from his party in modern times. (Steinhauer 2016)

Although Donald Trump is an unusual president in many aspects, for example he never hold a public office or served in the military as every president before him did, my intention is to focus on the most current and important topics as human rights issues, immigration and abortion. This issues will be addressed one by one, paying especially close attention to the similarities between the expressions of Donald Trump (and his surrogates) and what elected representatives of the Republican Party say. In many ways

Donald Trump says openly and without any shame what the Republican Party was saying for a long time indirectly or with excuses. The voters are just responding to what they are used to hear, but this time it is put more clearly and by man with a business empire. Despite all the hesitation and pretense from Republican Party, Donald Trump has become their nominee by taken advantage of the same rhetoric they have been using for years. He as a successful candidate has been created by the GOP´s willingness to forgive any homophobic, sexist or racist remarks made by their members as long as they achieve the desirable goal – election or reelection.

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Legitimacy of President Barack Obama

The first claims that have been recorded of Donald Trump himself questioning whether Barack Obama was born in the United States and therefore is legitimate president begins in 2011 and he became to be one of the most vocal birthers in America

(although he dismisses this term as derogatory). This alone should be alarming, since most of them were white-supremacist and neo-Nazi groups (Krieg 2016), which has taken advantage of the opportunity to criticize the first African American president of the United States. Coupled with Donald Trump´s history of discriminating against black tenants earlier in his career, the ability of Donald Trump to represent African Americans has been questioned by many.

It is also undeniably true, that no other president had to deal with so much disrespect and doubts about his American origin than President Obama. Let´s just remember the last State of the Union Address, when one Republican has shouted “You lie.” At the president during his speech and earned criticism from both parties alike.

Although many birthers always stressed their fight is just about following the rules and their concerns are not at all related to president Obama´s color of skin, they usually added in the same breath statement pointing exactly to that conclusion. Being interviewed regarding this matter on September 2010, former Speaker of the House

Newt Gingrich stated that Obama could only be understood by people who “understand

Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior” (Stein 2010). Although he did not defined such a behavior, he was accused of trying to appeal to people who did not believe Obama was born in the United States. It is also very important to remember how the statement also rings with dismissal of president Obama´s cultural roots and belief of one´s cultural superiority.

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Still, one of the most interesting allies of Trump in the birther issue was Sarah

Palin, who in many ways was a predecessor of Trump-style politics – populistic, angry and based largely on celebrity status (Gonyea 2016). Sarah Palin was chosen by John

McCain as a vice-presidential candidate, which made her an overnight celebrity.

Although she did not demonstrated much knowledge about many topics discussed in the election, she had a great ability to entertain a Republican crowd at rallies – as Trump did. Both of them suddenly got into high-level politics despite the relative lack of experience and definite lack of knowledge and expertise, relying on extensive publicity they received due to unprofessional nature of their statements and proposed policies.

When on April 27, 2011 President Obama released his long form birth certificate, for many people this constituted closure of the matter of where the president was born. For many people, but not for Donald Trump. In August the following year he tweeted that “an extremely credible source has called his office and told him that

Barack Obama´s birth certificate is a fraud”. After that tweet, there have been some questionable remarks on this topic, although Trump´s surrogates insists he believes that

President Obama was born in the US. Even during the campaign of 2016, he said this:

“Who knows, who knows? Who cares right now? … I have my own theory on Obama.

Someday I will write a book, I will do another book, and it will do very successfully.”

Even though many Trump´s associates have since gone to press conferences and television shows trying to denounce Donald Trump´s past in the birther movement,

Trump himself actually rather added another layer of lies to this issue right before the elections, when in September last year he claimed Hillary Clinton was the one who first raised the birther question.

His constant questioning of the fact that Obama was born in Hawaii and is therefore a legitimate president of the United States points towards a deeper issue

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Trump might have with African Americans or maybe people who are not white straight males. This makes him potentially dangerous to the progressive spirit of America and the rights of women and minorities.

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Immigration

During the announcement of his presidential run, the world has gotten very accurate glimpse into what Trump´s campaigning (and eventually his days in office) will be like. In the first few minutes of his speech, he offered his views on Mexican immigrants and his attitude towards them:

“These aren´t the best and the finest. When Mexico sends its people, they´re not sending

their best. They´re not sending you. They´re not sending you (point into the audience).

They´re sending people that have lots of problems. And they are bringing those

problems to us. They´re bringing drugs, they´re bringing crime. They´re rapists. And

some, I assume, are good people.”

Reluctance or outright rejection of refugees and immigrants is predominantly

Republican matter, as has been shown by governors who has vowed to reject the Syrian refugees on basis of security threats (joined by 1 Democrat). Governors do not have the authority to ban refugees, but what they can do is make life miserable when they arrive by making it harder for them to get language courses or job training. One of the governors wanting to stop refugees being settled in their state was Mike Pence, president Trump´s VP, with this statement issued to the federal government:

"In the wake of the horrific attacks in Paris, effective immediately, I am directing all

state agencies to suspend the resettlement of additional Syrian refugees in the state of

Indiana pending assurances from the federal government that proper security measures

have been achieved...Unless and until the state of Indiana receives assurances that

proper security measures are in place, this policy will remain in full force and effect."

Although it may seem as pretty moderate piece of writing, when you look closer, the stubborn insisting on assurances regarding proper security measures can point to three causes: an effort to postpone the resettlement of refugees, hoping their Party will win the presidency; ignorance about the fact that very strict measures are already in

12 place considering refugees coming to Europe and America (there are many easier ways for possible attackers to get to the Western countries, for example visa process – Oliver

2016, UNHCR) or an effort to please one´s voters by manifesting the same prejudices as they are but arguing the reason is security. Denying security measures that already exists is dangerous and expecting to get an absolute assurance no refugee will ever be associated with any terrorist activity is unreasonable on top of that. Danger of terrorism can never be completely eliminated without destroying the American freedoms and rights many Republicans claim are the reasons for terrorist attacks, but it can be and is managed successfully in a systematic manner by evidence-based policy.

Regarding the vetting of those refugees who are selected for resettlement to the

United States, the Migration Policy Institute cites the painstaking, many-layered review they have to pass before they are accepted. The FBI, Department of Homeland Security,

State Department, and national intelligence agencies independently check refugees’ biometric data against security databases. The whole process typically takes 18-24 months, with high hurdles for security clearance. Once resettled, refugees are connected with voluntary agencies that help them to become economically self-sufficient in the shortest time possible. Federal funds support those who need assistance for only the first seven or eight months of residence. From Albert Einstein to Google co-founder Sergey

Brin, refugees often give back much more than they take, which contradicts the narrative Republican try to push in the media discourse.

The debate about immigration in the United States in the recent years has not been the most rational one. Many politicians have repeatedly demonstrated their complete disregard for the fact that refugees and migrants are human beings with their rights, used very derogatory language when speaking about them or just diminished the danger these people are facing. Here are just some of the most famous of them.

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The Republicans Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has said that “immigration without assimilation is not immigration; it’s an invasion” (McHugh 2015) and that statement came even before the refugee crisis escalated. According to him apparently, people coming into the United States because of persecution or economic opportunities don´t have the right to keep and protect their culture and legacy of their ancestors (of course, within the limits of law).

Even more absurd proclamation came from former governor of Arkansas Mike

Huckabee who in an interview for MSNBC compared refugees to peanuts: “If you bought a five pound bag of peanuts and you knew that in the five pound bag of peanuts they were about 10 peanuts that were deadly poisonous, would you feed them to your kids? The answer is no.” (MSNBC live 2016) As it was later pointed out by numerous politicians, reporters and news anchors, this in not only dehumanization of refugees, but an incorrect presentation of the danger they possibly represent. In the four years after the terrorist attacks on World Trade Center, there were only three refugees arrested for planning terrorist activities out of 784 000 and none of them, by the way, intended to target the United States. (Newland 2015)

For some reason, comparing refugees to food is quite common among

Republicans – and that applies to those closest to Donald Trump and his campaign.

Donald Trump, Jr. offered in September 2016 his insight into the refugee crisis the world faces today: “If I had a bowl of skittles and I told you just three would kill you, would you take a handful? That’s our Syrian refugee problem.” (Chu 2016)

This has drawn so much attention and created such an outrage, that Mars Inc., the Virginia-based confectioner giant that owns Skittles was forced to issue a statement:

“Skittles are candy; refugees are people. It’s an inappropriate analogy. We respectfully

14 refrain from further comment, as that could be misinterpreted as marketing.” (Heath

2016)

In conclusion of this topic, it has to be pointed out that while the security issue is exaggerated and used to manipulate people to get their support, the economic cost of not accepting refugees is very real. The birthrate in America and Western Europe is far below what the market will need in the future and extra workforce will be needed to fill in the gap and satisfy the demand. There is also the problem that some jobs do not attract Americans very much. So In this era, information are not hard to get, but it is very difficult to get to the right and valid ones.

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LGBTQ Community

Although some may find Donald Trump´s record on LGBTQ rights including the right to marry a little confusing, the overall analysis points to very strong anti-

LGBTQ sentiment. He said he would support anti-LGBTQ laws like HB2 in North

Carolina, First Amendment Defense Act which would enable Kim Davis-style discrimination across the country. On Fox News Sunday on January, 31 2016 he admitted he would strongly consider appointing justices to the Supreme Court that would overrule the decision on marriage equality. And that statement speaks louder than his tweet that he supports LGBTQ community the most.

His later remarks are showing some progress, but maybe it is just a political calculation. After all, his choice for vice-president - Mike Pence, Indiana governor before the election – is known for signing a bill that allows businesses to discriminate and deny service to LGBTQ people because of who they are or who they love. In 2006, as a head of a Republican Study Committee, Pence supported a constitutional amendment that would define a marriage as a union between a man and a woman, which was clearly meant as an attempt to fight marriage equality. In his speech, he said that “societal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family”. (Drabold 2016) He was also in opposition of a bill aimed at reducing hate crimes, because it heighten legal protection of the LGBTQ community.

His other very disturbing beliefs include moral opposition to needle exchange programs, because it can be viewed as a celebration and encouragement of the type of behavior that causes HIV to spread. And instead of marriage equality and rights for

LGBTQ community, he prefers conversion therapy that aims to change sexual behavior.

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The fact that Mike Pence was chosen to be Trump´s running mate in presidential race sent a strong message to right-wing Christians that oppose LGBTQ rights, marriage equality and abortions. But many instances show Trump´s views are closer to Pence than many realize.

In 2015, George Takei, a friend of Trump´s, told MSNBC that Trump told him he was for “traditional marriage and cannot support same-sex marriage” right after he attended a same-sex marriage. (Human Rights Campaign Staff 2016)

Changes in his attitude seemingly appeared at the end of November 2016, when he repeated many times that he considers the issue of same-sex marriage closed and although he would prefer if it had been left to the states, there are bigger problems

America faces. However, even if he will not pursue abolishing of marriage equality, there are other concerns for LGBTQ community on the line.

Donald Trump and Mike Pence have both been talking about cancelling executive orders issued by President Obama, some of which are the basis for protection of LGBTQ community against discrimination. And this is not just an issue of abstract legal matters, a study by American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and UCLA´s

Williams Institute found that 41% of transgendered people attempt suicide at some point in their lives. They are more likely to do so in environments where they have few legal protections. (Lang 2016)

History of harsh anti-LGBTQ views in the Republican Party is very long and comprehensive with many pursuing the same strategy as Trump, peppering a little nicer comments now and then that leaves voters hoping for possible more progressive discourse, while keeping the more homophobic voters still satisfied. However with all the nice talk very scarcely comes corresponding action, which can be demonstrated by people one surrounds himself with.

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One of the most vocal anti-LGBTQ Republicans that both held a public office and is closely associated with Trump (although not from the very beginning of the campaign) is former Texas governor Rick Perry, whose one of the most memorable anti-LGBTQ quotes is the following: “I may have the genetic coding that I´m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way.” (Ring 2016) After he spent a large portion of an interview being asked how gay marriage can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, domestic violence or drunk- driving charges, he tried to clarify his position by stating “he doesn´t necessarily condone that lifestyle and he doesn´t condemn it, either”.

But since he has also publicly voiced support for conversion therapy and supported the Boy Scouts of America´s now-repealed ban on gay members and leaders, his comment is not very surprising. (Richinick 2014) And he is not much friendlier to

LGBTQ community in private matters. In March this year Rick Perry, with the authority as Energy Secretary, has commented on student president election at his alma mater, because of his dislike that an openly gay person has won. (Cummings 2017)

Even at the state level, there is no shortage of homophobia. In February 2014,

Democrats called for the resignation of Lawrence Lockman, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, when an activist helped uncover extremely anti- gay statements that Lockman had made years earlier. In one, Lockman implied that HIV and AIDS could be spread by bed sheets and mosquitoes. In another, he said that the progressive movement assisted the AIDS epidemic by assuring “the public that the practice of sodomy is a legitimate alternative lifestyle, rather than a perverted and depraved crime against humanity.” (Hsieh 2014)

The Republican Party does have a long record of resisting the progress on

LGBTQ rights and Trump is apparently following the party line on this issue. In 2015,

18 there was a congressional proposal to add LGBTQ protections to the Civil Rights Act,

Fair Housing act and others named H.R.3185 - Equality Act. It had 207 cosponsors in the House, but none of them were Republican (Congress.gov 2015). Rather than making sure people are not discriminated against because of who they are or love, Republicans moved to introduce several Religious Freedom Restoration Acts that limit the protection of LGBTQ people and so called bathroom bills aimed specifically at transgender people. No amount of Trump´s vaguely reassuring tweets can compensate for the record he and the Republican Party have on LGBTQ rights and protection.

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Women´s rights

One of the most central issue of the Trump campaign was the perception of their presidential candidate by women, since he had a long and very well documented history of both sexist statements and behavior. And not many presidential candidates get a website focusing just on their sexism. He also frequently contributed to the archive of his inappropriate remarks during his presidential run.

As a presidential candidate married to his third wife, there was a lot of scrutiny about his attitude towards his wife Melania and his two ex-wives. And the scrutiny only intensified after his election, because of plenty of photographs documented his seemingly cold marriage. He often appeared not to be even registering Melania at all, rushing along on the red carpet towards media attention and leaving her alone. As many interpreted this as disrespect, it has to be mentioned that it is no surprise.

Couple of months before he filed for divorce with his first wife, Ivana, he said to

Vanity Fair that he “would never buy Ivana any decent jewels or pictures. Why give her negotiable assets?”. This shows how openly disrespectful and dismissive he can be towards a woman he supposedly cares about. (Cohen 2017)

When he was married to his second wife, Marla, he gave an interview for ABC and it showed how he thinks women should live their lives and just be wives.

“I have days where, if I come home — and I don't want to sound too much like a chauvinist,

but when I come home and dinner's not ready, I go through the roof. I think that putting a

wife to work is a very dangerous thing. Unfortunately, after they're a star, the fun is over for

me. It's like a creation process. It's almost like creating a building. It's pretty sad.” (Cohen

2017)

But Trump in his sexist opinions goes even further, insisting he is a great father, even when he does not look after his children, because that is not a man´s job.

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“There’s a lot of women out there that demand that the husband act like the wife and

you know there’s a lot of husbands that listen to that. So you know, they go for it. (…)

If I had a different type of wife, I probably wouldn’t have a baby, ya know, cause that’s

not my thing. I’m really like a great father but certain things you do and certain things

you don’t. It’s just not for me. (…) Well, Marla used to say, ‘I can’t believe you’re not

walking Tiffany down the street,’ you know in a carriage. Right, I’m gonna be walking

down Fifth Avenue with a baby in a carriage. It just didn’t work.”

In the second presidential debate, one question to the candidates was to say something they respect about each other. Hillary Clinton said she respects Trump´s children, they are incredibly able and she thinks that says a lot about Donald. The question is if it does really, since he admitted he does not get involved with their upbringing. (CBS News 2016)

In 1997 Donald Trump bought the beauty pageant Miss USA and was asked how he will change the pageant. And his response was that he is “going to get the bathing suits to be smaller and the heels to be higher”. Later, he added: "If you’re looking for a rocket scientist, don’t tune in tonight, but if you’re looking for a really beautiful woman, you should watch.” Even though it can be argued these comments just reflect the culture of pageants and what it is expected from them and not necessarily his personal inclination, this is just a tip of the iceberg.

Back in 2004, Trump told the Daily News: "All of the women on The

Apprentice flirted with me - consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected.” (The

Telegraph, 2015) Under the illusion he is irresistible, even in the working environment his thoughts about women are predominately not work-related and it has become clear he does not associate women with being capable of a successful career. And there is another reason Trump finds women in a workplace problematic.

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In 2013, he tweeted about the problem of sexual violence in the military this:

“26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” and effectively blamed it on the very existence of cohabitation. Not only is it outrageously close to the “boys will be boys” excuse of sexual harassment and violence ad shifts the blame from the perpetrators of crimes, it also happens to be misleading. According to the Pentagon anonymous sexual abuse survey most victims of sexual assaults in the military are men, with only 2% of assailants being women (Washington Times 2013), which makes the cohabitation claim even more nonsensical.

All these previous statements have been made before his presidential run and therefore before he had a large campaign team trying to manage his image. But Trump has not abandoned his sexism even then.

Carly Fiorina was Trump’s Republican rival during the elections. According to

Rolling Stone magazine, when asked to comment on her chances, he said: "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next President?

I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?"(Cohen 2017). And it was not just Carly Fiorina that got criticized for her appearance. Donald Trump also famously rated Heidi Klum as “no longer a 10” and 1996 Alicia Machado claimed Mr. Trump called her "fat” and "Miss

Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping" because of her Latino heritage.

And his disrespect for women did not end there. After the first Republican debate Donald Trump responded to the tough questions about his sexist remarks by seemingly calling the host of the debate, journalist Meghan Kelly, a bimbo on twitter and suggesting that her thorough questioning was a result of her menstruating. (Chavez

Stracqualursi 2016)

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But on October 7, 2016 Trump´s struggling campaign was hit by another scandal

– a video of his interview with Billy Bush emerged, in which Donald Trump makes extremely lewd comments about kissing and groping women without waiting for a sign of consent. To avoid any allegations of taking quotes out of context, the following lines record the whole conversation.

“You know, and I moved on her actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved

on her and I failed. I admit it. And I did try and f--k her. And I moved on her very heavily. In

fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, ‘I’ll show

you where they have some nice furniture. I took her out furniture. I moved on her like a

b---h, but I couldn´t get there and she was married… Then all of a sudden, I see her, she´s

now got the big tits and everything. She´s totally changed her look.

-- (Unintelligible) --

“I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I just start kissing her. You know I am automatically

attracted to beautiful – I just start kissing them. It´s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don´t even

wait. And when you´re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the

p---y. You can do anything.”

To clarify, this is a Republican presidential nominee bragging about sexually assaulting women and getting away with it because of his social status. The man whom he is talking to was fired over this recording and he is just a television host.

This tape, made by a microphone Trump did not know what active, has outraged both Democrats and Republicans. Among those calling for Trump to withdraw as the party's nominee were Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, Arizona

Senator Jeff Flake, Utah Senator Mike Lee, South Dakota Senator John Thune and many other Republican officeholders have announce they will not be voting for Trump though they have endorsed him before (Phelps, Siegel and Abramson 2016).

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The 2008 Republican candidate for president, John McCain, said he and his wife, are withdrawing their support from Trump because “Donald Trump’s behavior this week, concluding with the disclosure of his demeaning comments about women and his boasts about sexual assaults, make it impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy…”

On the other hand, some Republicans, reacted in a very contrived and peculiar manner. Paul Ryan said he was done defending Trump, but in an odd twist did not publicly withdraw his endorsement. (CNN 2016)

Jeff Sessions, a Republican senator and now Attorney General, in an interview with Weekly Standard declined to accept that grabbing a woman by her genitals is in fact sexual assault, offering very well thought through arguments.

”I think that's a stretch. I don't know what he meant— (…) I don't know. It's not clear that he—how that would occur.” (Kirkland 2016)

Republicans´ unfortunate tolerance for nominees and officeholders with history of dubious comments on sexual violence has been scrutinized over the decades again and again. On 24 March 1990, Texas oilman Clayton Williams, the Republican nominee in an upcoming gubernatorial election, was preparing for a cattle roundup at his ranch while undesirable weather conditions threatened to spoil the event. As he sat around a campfire, Williams likened that day’s cold, foggy weather to rape, saying, “If it’s inevitable, just relax and enjoy it.” (AP 1990)

On 19 August 2012, Republican Representative Todd Akin of Missouri, was interviewed by KTVI. During that interview, Akin was asked whether he believed abortion was justified in cases of rape, and he responded by asserting that “legitimate rapes” rarely resulted in pregnancy, because “it seems to be, first of all, from what I

24 understand from doctors, it’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.”

And if you might be puzzled by the notion of “a legitimate rape”, the television station has consulted experts and could not find one that has ever head of such a term, even though Akin has claimed it is used by police officers.

As someone who has been looking through both GOP´s and Trump´s record on the general attitude towards women and their rights and concerns, I feel obliged to mention once again how extensive and worrying their records are. It seems as though the perpetual sexist remarks by Republicans have paved the way for a presidential candidate like Donald Trump, who can afford to quite clearly disrespect, humiliate and by his own admission also assault women without any consequences. It is doubtful that someone with such a history can represent women of America and work to improve their wellbeing and standing within the American society.

However, this line of treating women and not acknowledging their worth is completely identical as what can be found in the Republican Party. Though many

Republicans have distanced themselves from Donald Trump, they still remain aligned with a Party that stands for effectively the same.

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Abortion

At numerous events, Frederick Douglas has started his speech by noting: "I appear this evening as a thief and a robber. I stole this head, these limbs, this body from my master, and ran off with them.” He was emphasizing how the principles of slavery deprived human beings of ownership of their own bodies and made them into mere pieces of property owned by the master without the possibility of making the most private choices about their lives. Slaves were sold next to the livestock without any consideration of whether families would be separated.

There is a relatively widespread movement that works with the same propositions that were once held about slaves, but this time they are being applied to women – inherent inability to make reasonable decisions about one´s life coupled with assumed subordinate social position. Women´s rights to make decision about their own bodies are constantly attacked by right-wing ideology.

In 2002, Republican Representative Terry England has compared pregnant hogs and cows to pregnant women while debating a proposal that became known as the

"women as livestock bill", which would force women to carry a dead fetus to term.

“Life gives us many experiences…I’ve had the experience of delivering calves, dead and alive. Delivering pigs, dead or alive. It breaks our hearts to see those animals not make it.” These are his exact words during that debate. (Peck 2012)

In some states like Alabama and Mississippi pregnant women are becoming a special class of people subjected to “special” laws that infringe on their fundamental rights. Giving zygotes “personhood” rights while systematically stripping women of their fundamental rights. “There is too much to say about the danger of personhood ideas creeping into health policy to do it here. Criminalizing miscarriages and arresting, imprisoning and charging women who miscarry with murder, like Rennie Gibbs in

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Mississippi or at least 40 other similar cases in Alabama” (Chemaly 2012) is in fact driven by the belief that women although equipped to become pregnant are not equipped to make a rational and ethical decision regarding the pregnancy while considering the possible consequences.

When in 2014 Lawrence Lockman came under public scrutiny for very negative statements he made about certain groups of people (including LGBTQ community, mentioned earlier), one of those statements was about abortion.

“If a woman has (the right to an abortion), why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t (in most cases) result in anyone’s death.” (Hsieh 2014)

It is ironic that those who call themselves pro-life are usually the ones most ignorant about women´s health and wellbeing. On 20 January 2012, Rick Santorum, a former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania who was then campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, appeared on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight and was asked about his stance on abortion and whether he believed abortion was wrong even in cases of incest and rape. Santorum responded by saying that although a pregnancy resulting from a rape might be “horrible,” it was nonetheless a “gift of human life” and that “we have to make the best out of a bad situation”. (Wing 2012)

Prioritizing the unborn over the fully developed person sends a signal to pregnant women that their whole purpose is reproduction and that because they bring life to this world, this is all they should do and all they are good for.

Donald Trump has supported the pro-choice movement in America for quite some time before he became a presidential nominee. As a Republican candidate for president he reconsidered and became a strong opponent to abortions. During a town

27 hall meeting in Green Bay in March 2016, he expressed an opinion so severe even leading pro-life organization denounced his remarks.

Q: Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no as a principle?

TRUMP: The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.

Q: For the woman.

TRUMP: Yeah, there has to be some form.

Q: Ten cents? Ten years? What?

TRUMP: I don’t know. That I don’t know. That I don’t know.

What followed was a public outcry from both the left and right, from abortion rights activists and Planned Parenthood to NARAL Pro-choice America to March for

Life. (Kertscher 2016) The outrage was so omnipresent and powerful that Trump was forced to change his position. By claiming he was clarifying his previous statement,

Trump conformed his view to most relevant pro-life organizations. (Diamond 2016)

There is also one very worrying aspect to how politicians reacted to Trump´s recorded lewd remarks from 2005 that is connected to the belief that women are inherently inferior to men.

Jeb Bush, who have lost to Trump in Republican primaries, tweeted that “As the grandfather of two precious girls, I find that no apology can excuse away Donald

Trump's reprehensible comments degrading women.” (Fahrenthold 2016)

Utah Sen. Mike Lee made his own Facebook video calling on Trump to walk away from his candidacy. “I respectfully ask you with all due respect, to step aside. Step down,” Lee said in his video. Mentioning the women in his own family, Lee said that if anyone had spoken to them the way Trump has spoken to women, “I wouldn’t hire that person, wouldn’t want to be associated with that person,” and he added, “I certainly don’t think I would feel comfortable hiring that person to be the leader of the free world.”

28

Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, issued a statement as well condemning

Trump’s remarks but standing by his candidacy:

“As a husband and father, I was offended by the words and actions described by Donald

Trump in the eleven-year-old video released yesterday. I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them. I am grateful that he has expressed remorse and apologized to the American people. We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunity he has to show what is in his heart when he goes before the nation tomorrow night.”

One of the best reaction to the point came from Frank Bruni, a columnist from the Times: “As the father of no daughters, I’m appalled by Donald Trump’s comments about groping women. As the husband of no wife, I’m offended.” (Bruni

2016)

This is a very important perspective, because many offended men seemed convince that have to justify being offended by Trump´s comments because of their relation to a woman. Instead, they should have been offended because another person´s dignity and integrity was violated. It is perfectly reasonable to be concerned about the rights and liberties of another human being without having a close relation to the group that human being is a part of. It is just another reiteration of “having a black friend” or more recently “having a gay friend”. Men can be offended by horrible statements about women just because of principles. Pretending that objectifying and insulting women is only wrong when there is a male family member close to her, denies women their dignity and humanity.

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Conclusion

The US presidential elections of 2016 were remarkable in many ways. From the announcement speeches – Bernie Sanders´ speech about economic inequality in front or a regatta, Ted Cruz´s at Liberty University in front of students that had to attend this compulsory gathering to Donald Trump´s announcement in his Trump Tower in New

York City that corresponded with his self-centered campaign based on his celebrity status. Not many people were convinced Trump´s presidential run could be successful or that he could secure the party nomination. The Republican Party seemed appalled at how well Trump was doing with their voters and based on the statements of Republican officials, many actively worked against his nomination.

Ted Cruz and John Kasich actually join forces to try to prevent Trump from securing the party nomination. Other Republicans has voiced their support of a brokered convention, where they would decide the party nominee then. This seeming resistance from the Republican Party is hypocritical, since Donald Trump proposes the same policies they have for years. The calculated hesitating of granting support to the party´s nominee was a way of showing some concern over his extreme views, often portrayed in media outlets, which has been connected to the Republican Party before the Trump era. The Republican Party, however, was used to present these views in a particular way that distracted media from their extremism. The voters that have followed the

Republican rhetoric for a long time, though, were primed to understand the message in the context of their own political thinking.

Donald Trump has in many ways contributed to the birther narrative of Obama origin, well connected to the Republican Party, and even after the birth certificate was published Donald Trump remained very skeptical of its validity. Republicans have used

30 this issue to stir doubts about the Democratic Party and its nominees, which shows how similar Trump´s opinions were to the Republicans even before his candidacy.

On the issue of immigration, Donald Trump and the Republican Party have similar stance as well. The anti-immigration, anti-Muslim and anti-Mexican tone that

Donald Trump has demonstrated since his announcement speech, has long been heard in the Republican Party. Under the excuses of security, Republicans have repeatedly released statements that deprived refugees and immigrants of their humanity and their human rights.

One of the most discussed scandal that marked the Trump presidential campaign was the release of Billy Bush tape that recorded the presidential candidate saying sexist and extremely lewd things about women. He lost support of many Republicans, however, this horrible attitude towards women can be traced to the Republican Party and their officeholders.

Donald Trump´s most notable change of opinions as perceived by the press was his view of abortion. In the past, the strong opponent of pro-choice direction of politics has suddenly adopted the opposite policy, much harsher than other pro-life advocates.

This political correction has helped him secure more votes of the Republican and emphasize the importance of a Republican president. Because since the Republicans have declined to give Obama´s nominee for Supreme Court a hearing, the next president will have the chance to name a Supreme Court judge. This turned out to be a big motivator for voters.

In conclusion, the Republican Party has created the opportunity for such a presidential candidate as Donald Trump. By pursuing an opportunistic policy tolerating homophobic, racist and sexist members, the Party has created a voting base comfortable with these views, or at least not uncomfortable. By doing this, they opened a way for a

31 presidential candidate that although was ideologically very similar, was also very unpopular and risky presidential candidate to have.

At this moment, the unease with which the Republican Party has accepted

Trump´s presidency can still be seen. He is as unpredictable as a president as he was during the campaign and the Republican Party struggles to enact any policy even though they control both Houses and the presidency. The Republican Party might have the same agenda as Donald Trump had during the election season, but the chaos and ignorance left the government unable to pass anything without relying on executive orders.

Donald Trump as a successful candidate was created by the Republican Party and its policies in recent years, but successful presidential candidate does not equal successful president.

32

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40

Summary

The aim of the thesis is to analyze the political discourse of Donald Trump during the campaign and the Republican Party before and during the campaign to demonstrate how the choices the Republican Party has made in the past led to a presidential nominee like Donald Trump. By comparing statements from the Republican nominee and Republican officeholders and their other nominees, I will disprove the claims of the Republican Party being used by a populist businessman while remaining innocent in the matter.

The Republican Party has numerous times demonstrated the ability to be concerned only with ends, not means. They have chosen to support candidates that clearly relied on votes from white supremacist and other groups undermining the equality of all. The reluctance of the Republican Party to endorse their own presidential candidate is nothing more than a hypocritical maneuver to gain more time before making a final decision. Donald Trump represents policies that the Republican Party has chosen to represent and hesitating to endorse him will not change that fact.

Other lines of possible inquiry include researching how Donald Trump changed to become a Republican candidate, since he supported Democrats for a long time. This work, however, deals with how the Republican Party itself contributed to the environment, in which Donald Trump as a candidate was not only possible, but successful presidential nominee. If Republican Party was more diligent about the image they were projecting in relation to race and other minorities, the American society would not be so accustomed to hearing the extreme views from the Republican Party and a presidential candidate like Donald Trump would be less probable.

41

Resumé

Cílem této práce je zanalyzovat vztah mezi Donaldem Trumpem jako kandidátem a politikou Republikánská strany. Soustředění se na období prezidentské kampaně povede k více efektivní komparaci politického diskurzu těchto dvou entit.

Subjektem analýzy budou prohlášení Donalda Trumpa během prezidentské kampaně v roce 2016 a prohlášení Republikánských představitelů v poslední době.

Republikánská strana opakovaně demonstrovala schopnost podporovat kandidáty a své představitelé, i přes jejich rasistické, homofobní či sexistické vyjádření, pokud se jim podařilo dosáhnout cíle – zvolení. Strana se rozhodla podporovat i

Republikány, kteří spoléhali na hlasy skupin, které podrývají ideu, že všichni jsou si rovni. Jejich váhání při podpoře Donalda Trumpa bylo jen strategickým vyčkáváním, jak se přízeň voličů vyvine. Donald Trump reprezentuje politiku, kterou Republikánská strana sama podporuje a nezáleží na tom, jak dlouho strana bude čekat, než ho podpoří.

Další možný výzkum zahrnuje způsoby, jaký se Donald Trump přizpůsobil

Republikánské straně, aby se mohl stát jejich kandidátem. Tato práce se ovšem zabývá tím, jak sama Republikánská strana přispěla k tomu, aby prezidentský kandidát jako

Donald Trump mohl uspět.

V případě, že by Republikánská strana hlídala svůj image a nepodporovala extrémní názory, americká společnost by nebyla tak navyklá na Republikány s takovými názory – na Muslimy, Mexičany a další menšiny.

42