Donald Trump’s campaign for the highest office in the United States dominated a symposium Wednesday at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford –– and not in a positive way.
“I completely understand why people want to vote for Donald Trump. They want to throw a molotov cocktail and blow this damn system to pieces. And I get that. I do. 100 percent. I just don’t think that’s the correct way to do it. The right way to do it is to not blow the damn system up. It’s to roll up your sleeves and fix the damn system.”
So said Dr. Stephen Robar, associate professor of political science at Pitt-Bradford, who spoke at a Behavioral and Social Sciences Symposium in Fisher Hall.
People are drawn to authoritarians, such as actor John Wayne or Arnold Schwarzenegger, an actor and former California governor.
“We as Americans have always had a latent comfort with that,” he said.
But no magic exists that the authoritarian will swoop in and save the day — whether that is Trump or anyone else, he said.
“And we’re seeing a lot of that now,” Robar said.
In Trump’s case, credible news organizations and other political fact-checking organizations that verified statements made by Trump found that much of what he has said is untrue.
“You tell people what is horrible about their lives. Then do one more thing, then you point a finger at somebody, tell that person or that group of people is to blame,” Robar said. “That’s how you win politics and elections in this country.”
Dr. Michael Klausner, associate professor of sociology at Pitt-Bradford, also chimed in about Trump.
Klausner mentioned a statement made by Trump about coal mining jobs being lost. But job cuts aren’t occurring because of Mexicans or China, he said.
To a certain extent, a small part of the problem deals with outsourcing. For the most part, though, technology plays into jobs being lost, Klausner said. Such is the case with microscopic gallbladder surgery, Klausner said.
What’s more, crime and undocumented people are unconnected, he indicated. Trump gives the impression that Mexicans are stealing the jobs and raping Americans, Klausner said. But he said that data from the last several years indicates a steep decline of people coming from Mexico and entering the United States.
At a talk, Trump said he would rescind the Common Core State Standards, a set of standards school districts have to follow in their classrooms. But Trump has no power to do that — that decision is up to the states, Klausner said.
Trump has also said he would put Clinton in jail for using a private email server and for the fact that thousands of emails had been lost. Yet, Klausner said no evidence exists that Clinton committed a crime. Perhaps she had used poor judgement, he said.
A self-identified Republican, Klausner said he cannot cast his ballot for Trump.
But there’s also the fatigue with Clinton, Robar said. The Clintons — former president Bill and Hillary, have been involved in politics for nearly 30 years.
“I have many concerns with Hillary Clinton,” Robar said.
But one woman in the audience spoke up, disagreeing with the three speakers –– Robar, Klausner and Margaret Satterwhite Brown, instructor of mass communications at Pitt-Bradford, indicating that she finds it alarming that students could walk away from the Pitt-Bradford event wanting to vote for Clinton rather than Trump.
But Klausner said he would never tell a student to vote for a certain candidate. That’s why there is a secret ballot, he said.
Brown said certain facts had to be pointed out.
Also at the event, Brown spoke about the use of the media by the candidates and their supporters.
Brown showed the 1984 Apple Macintosh commercial, something she said has been called the “best commercial ever.” That advertisement showed militarized police, and everyone marching to the same drum, much like today, she said.
“It was supposed to be a hopeful commercial of what society could be like now that we have technology,” she said.
That’s where the use of media comes in. The media has been known as the Fourth Estate, and nowadays, the fifth estate has surfaced and includes bloggers and independent journalists, she said.
The mainstream remains in place but the distrust now exists from both the left and the right, Brown said.
“The masses have been told not to use mainstream media,” Brown said.
Both left and right wing media can be untruthful, Robar said. He recalled the days of growing up when there were three television channels. “So there was a central reference point for everybody,” Robar said.
That meant that conservatives and liberals had to rely on the same facts and ideas, he said. Today, there are many media methods, such as Twitter.
“We are what we consume. We are what we read. We are what we watch,” Robar said.
