The 2016 US Presidential Elections

Donald Trump’s announcement to contest for the 2016 US presidential elections on a

GOP ticket generated mixed reactions across America. The majority, including political pundits

believed that he was totally unfit to occupy any political office, let alone the highest in the land.

Trump’s strange political views coupled with an absolute departure of what America’s

mainstream politics is, immediately put him at the center of controversy. Interestingly though, he

has continued to garner support across board with many subscribing to his views and school of

thought. He is winning the primaries at an outstanding rate that he now seems to have a shot at

clinching the Republican presidential nominee ticket. Both ends of the political divide i.e.

Democrats and Republicans are left to wonder what is propelling his ascension to political

relevance yet he is the least qualified candidates in terms of political experience. George Lakoff

seeks to explore theories that could possibly explain the situation.

George Lakoff is an eminent cognitive linguist at the University of California. He sets out

to provide an explanation of how mind science plays a significant role in determining which

presidential candidate wins elections in America. What traits they posses and which approach

they take in luring electorate to vote for them. George’s bases his theory on framing issues in

order to control peoples mind by shaping their thinking culture which conveniently serve the

politicians purpose. He critiques the authoritarian approach that leverages on neuroscience to

control the human mind. Being pro democracy, Lakoff does not warm up to conservative’s ideals

that deliberately manipulate people’s thinking and shape their brains to assume a certain line of

thought. George Lakoff further emphasizes that shaping the brain is a treacherous business.

George’s book helps to explain how fundamental changes in the America system of

government have been accomplished. He reviews events in the 18 th century and how American

politics played out then. According to him, the picture painted in the 18 th century was of

enlightened thinkers, and of humans who were rational in their thinking, attentive to facts and

logical in their approach of things. Progressive politics has since bought into this, and thus

offering facts and logical arguments to sell their agenda to the electorates. However, humans are

not rational, at least not fully. Generally, people tend to negotiate reality with all kinds of

unconscious and emotionally oriented gimmicks to get their way and be ahead of the curve at

whatever cost. As revealed by the cognitive science cognoscenti, human do not just reason, but

reason with passion. People don’t just plainly think, but combine thinking with emotions.

Lakoff further explains that politics, at least in the 21 st century is not about changing

electorates mind through argument and logical facts, but about configuring and reconfiguring

neural pathways. It is about packaging a narrative in a way that is appealing to the human

emotion. The narrative needs to be repetitive, comforting, morally appealing, utilizing

metaphors, mantras and mottos to gain neural traction. Politicians, who have found this to be the

power secret, have ended up controlling the minds of people and consequently won elections.

George seems to focus his descriptions and arguments in describing Republicans whom he

claims understand how brains and minds work. It is the reason why they use this kind of

knowledge to control minds. Right in the GOP stable is one Donald Trump.

The fundamental question remains, why is Trump winning? People are mystified, they

can’t understand how a man who has come from nowhere, has no solid political background and

holds extreme views about politics and governance could be showing potential signs of winning

the Republican nominations, and possibly the US presidency late this year. Trump’s position is

contradictory and controversial; he is not the regular Republican. He disagrees with major

Republican policies, insults major voting groups and lacks coherent policies. Definitely, an

average thinker cannot understand that framing of the mind is playing the game changer and

ushering a narrative convenient to Trump’s ideals and beliefs. Trump supports Planned

Parenthood, Social Security and Medicare, which is not standard Republican position. In

addition, Republicans do not support the taking of private property by the government and love

the Trans-Pacific Partnership (Lakoff 78). In both, they do not see eye to eye with Donald

Trump. Ironically he is liked by the white evangelical, yet he is not religious. Matter of fact, he

Trump thinks some companies; particularly the pharmaceuticals and military contractors

are making too much money. He wants to intervene and stop that. When his fellow Republicans

are busy courting the major voting groups such as the Latinos, Trump is throwing insults at them.

He is not afraid to call out the 11 Million illegal immigrants, he promises to deport them. He

further makes the outrageous claim of locking all Muslims out of the United States. With such

claims, one would expect that he will be dropped by his supporters immediately, but no. Lakoff’s

offers an explanation as to how the conservative agenda still thrives in spite of its unique and

strange positioning in the political space.

The answer is born from the realization that Americans tend to understand the nation

metaphorically based on family terms. The values of nationhood find their fundamental backing

from family and how it is set up at the very basic level. USA brags of its founding fathers, it

boasts of it pride to send sons and daughters to fight wars and, and finds dependence on the

homeland security. Progressive and conservative world views can be easily understood by basing

them on moral worldviews encompassed in two forma of family structures; one being the

Nurturant Parent family for the progressives and the Strict Father family for the conservatives.

This is a point of intersection between family and socio-political matters. The Strict Father

family emphasizes on discipline and exertion of authority. He is cognizant of what is right and

wrong and he makes sure that his spouse and children do what he says.

Conservatism being based on the Strict Father theory, carries the narrative that

responsibility is taken personally and not as a society. Failure is punishable, and victims need to

be strong and build a capacity to be competitive and win in the world of stiff competition.

Therefore, in a world governed by personal discipline and responsibility those who win deserve

to win. It is the reason why Trump hurls insults at his opponents and rivals because he can

confidently win an ‘insult match’. In strict conservative perspective, that makes him a formidable

candidate who deserves to win. Competition at the polls is seen as a battle, insults that endure are

considered victories. Trump redefined John McCain as not being a hero on the premise that he

got shot; the objective was for him to emphasize the fact that heroes are winners.

Moreover, in the strict father theory, authority is justified by morality where the view of

the society is through the family lens defined by a well ordered social structure. Such a society

has a moral hierarchy that should be dominant, sustained and respected. The hierarchy is defined

as thus; God above man, Christians above non Christians, the rich above the poor, the adults

above the children, employers above employees, western cultures above other cultures, and

whites above non-whites. These tendencies have put Trump ahead of the curve, and have helped

him maintain his position on top of the Republican presidential race. Furthermore, the media has

framed the narrative of making America great again that has popularized his campaign and

catalyzed his influence that has reached various quarters.

In relating Lakoff’s ‘The Political Mind’ to Donald Trump’s pursuit for the Republican

candidacy, and ultimately the US presidency we laid out complex narrative whose composition is

smaller narratives with very simple structures. This is the structure that forms the basis of a story,

how the human mind allows simple narratives to be combined into larger, more complex ones

because of its neural binding capabilities (Jason Stanley 39). Every story is structured in a space

of time with the stages of Preconditioning, The Build-up, The Main event, The Purpose, The

Wind-down, The Result, and finally The Consequences. Sometimes the structure may vary, but

the majority of stories follow this template. Donald Trump has continued to frame himself as a

rogue politician, and his script follows a similar outline which is catapulting him to fame and

popularity while edging him closer to win the Republican candidacy.

Works Cited

Justice, Benjamin and Jason Stanley. “Teaching in the Time of Trump.” Social Education 80.1

"How the "Trump Factor" Came to Dominate the 2016 Election." The Dahrendorf Forum. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.

Lakoff, George. The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-century Politics with an

18th-century Brain. New York: Viking, 2008. Print.