Othering and the Politics of Sectarian Extremism: A Threat to the Liberal Democratic Hegemony?

The 2020 US Presidential election was one of the most controversial of recent times, with the then incumbent, Donald Trump, questioning the legitimacy of the vote before it had even been cast. Trump consistently claimed that he could only lose if the vote was “rigged” and suggested the system of mail-in voting that had been encouraged as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, was precisely that. Such were his alleged concerns that Trump refused to say definitively whether he would oversee a peaceful transition of power should he lose and, indeed, following his subsequent loss at the polls, he refused to acknowledge the victory of Joe Biden and continued to claim the election was "stolen". His politicking culminated in the events of January 6th when a violent group of supporters stormed the Capitol Building, interrupting the Joint session of Congress as it certified the official Electoral College ballots, and declared they were "taking back control".

Despite much negative publicity surrounding Trump throughout his time in the Oval Office, and a significant decline in America’s international standing, he still managed to secure over 74 million votes, representing almost 47 per cent of votes cast. As such, the election demonstrates the polarised nature of an American society once again confronting issues around racism and socio-economic inequalities that have been made all the worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Exploring data from various public opinion and social attitudes surveys, this paper will argue that Trump merely ‘violated longstanding norms’ to exploit these long-established American divisions that previous candidates had almost religiously sought to avoid and brush under the carpet. It will argue that Trump has brought to the fore a process of Othering that has reinforced a sectarianised form of politics defined by “Us and Them” narratives – narratives that had previously existed but which Trump has given a new and dangerous legitimacy. Arguing that this Othering process has similarities to that experienced in Northern Ireland, and in light of the events of January 6th, the paper will assess the potential for these divisions to spill over into a violent extremism within small sections of society.

Finally, the paper will question the extent to which the direction of American politics could be replicated in the Liberal Democratic states of Western Europe.