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How Original Is Donald Trump?

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Lawrence Davidson
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Just as it is with Trump, so was it with Jackson. Jackson was deemed "King Mob" by his opponents because of his ability to speak the language and direct the passions of the crowds that flocked to hear him lay out the country's problems. The enemy Jackson offered up for sacrifice to his mob was the American Indian. And, when he did become president, Jackson pushed through Congress the American Indian Removal Act. He then forced the relocation of 45,000 Native Americans. In the case of the Cherokees, at least 4,000 died in the process. The enemy Trump offers up to his listeners is Latin Americans residing in the U.S. without documentation. He wants to deport perhaps as many as a million of them and then build a wall along the southern border to keep others out.

Trump also offers the crowd American Muslims, whether legally resident or not. All of them represent an un-American "contagion," helping to prevent the reawakening of American greatness. Those who would prevent this act of purification are, of course, enemies not only of Trump/Jackson, but of the nation and its destiny. Trump says again and again that Hillary Clinton must be put in jail. "On the last day of his presidency," Jackson said his only regret was that he was never able to definitively deal with all of his political opponents. He fantasized shooting and hanging them.

Part III -- Differing on the Down Side

The U.S. survived the presidency of Andrew Jackson, although thousands of Native Americans did not. It is said that his victory opened the office of the presidency to men who were not of the elite, the so-called "aristocrats" of the founding generation. But Jackson himself, though self-made, was a man of wealth, and his election helped confirm the fact that only those of wealth could afford to run for high office. On the other hand, as Trump reminds us, wealth need not get in the way of a politician appearing as "one of the boys." All you need to do is "talk the talk" -- a disdainful, arrogant and belligerent talk. Both Trump and Jackson were able to do just that.

If the United States experienced the political career of Andrew Jackson with acceptable levels of internal tumult, at least among its voting classes, one can ask if the country will as readily weather the political odyssey of Donald Trump.

In 1824 Jackson lost his first bid for the White House. It had been a three-party race and Jackson had gotten the most electoral college votes, but not the number of them needed to win. The election was therefore decided by the House of Representatives. Here a deal was made by his two opponents, John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay, to throw the election to Adams, who then appointed Clay Secretary of State.

Jackson's supporters were very upset, with some obvious justification. However, Jackson kept them under control even while keeping their resentment alive. He used that unsettled state of feeling to win in 1828. It does not look as if Mr. Trump is willing, or perhaps capable, of handling loss in the same creative way.

Sensing defeat, Trump has already declared his belief in a grand conspiracy involving the Clintons, bankers, feminists and the media, who have conspired to cheat him out of the presidency. That he could be the source of his own troubles seems not an allowable possibility to him, given the extreme narcissistic nature of his character. This being the case, if he is defeated, what message will he send his followers -- people who already are convinced that U.S. political system is corrupt?

My guess is that, unlike Jackson, Trump will have no coherent message beyond his present complaints. In the end he might just be too immature to handle this kind of very personal and public defeat. He may rant for a while and then go into seclusion, leaving his followers to fend for themselves. What they might then do with their own anger and disappointment is still an unknown.

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Lawrence Davidson is a history professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Foreign
Policy Inc.: Privatizing America's National Interest
; America's
Palestine: Popular and Offical Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli
Statehood
; and Islamic Fundamentalism. His academic work is focused on the history of American foreign relations with the Middle East. He also teaches courses in the history of science and modern European intellectual history.

His blog To The Point Analyses now has its own Facebook page. Along with the analyses, the Facebook page will also have reviews, pictures, and other analogous material.

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