tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/melania-trump-29458/articlesMelania Trump – The Conversation2023-08-03T17:13:25Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2109382023-08-03T17:13:25Z2023-08-03T17:13:25ZPrime Minister Justin Trudeau assumes a new role — single dad, just like his own father<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541052/original/file-20230803-21-d1dqsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C60%2C4493%2C2708&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his son, Hadrien, watch a traditional First Nations game in Whitehorse, Yukon in February 2023</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Thomas</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/prime-minister-justin-trudeau-assumes-a-new-role-single-dad-just-like-his-own-father" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The unexpected announcement in mid-summer of the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/justinpjtrudeau/?hl=en">separation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau</a> places the prime minister in a new role. </p>
<p>In Canada, unlike in the United States, being married has never been an unwritten requirement to hold the highest political post. However, as Donald Trump illustrated and Ronald Reagan before him, being divorced once or twice, remarrying and <a href="https://www.elitedaily.com/p/which-presidents-have-been-divorced-its-not-a-long-list-18232000">then running for president is seemingly fine</a> by Americans. </p>
<p>In the U.S., a sitting president would probably pay a substantial price if in Trudeau’s position as a newly single dad. </p>
<p>There’s a long history of American presidents and their wives remaining in marriages for the sake of both public appearances and political careers. Several first ladies, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=123027&page=1">most notably Pat Nixon</a> and an often <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/melania-trump-husband-divorce-revenge-b1928742.html">visibly disengaged Melania Trump</a>, struggled with their role.</p>
<h2>Different systems</h2>
<p>Some of the differences between the two countries stems from the fact that U.S. presidents are elected by the people, while Canadian political leaders are chosen by a relatively small number of party members, and must then ensure the party gains a majority in the House of Commons to become prime minister. People don’t vote directly for prime ministers, but for their party.</p>
<p>As well, the president is both the head of state and head of government of the U.S., while in Canada the prime minister is the head of government, but the British monarch is the ceremonial head of state. </p>
<p>The current monarch, King Charles, knows quite a bit about marital breakdowns, as he <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a41935796/princess-diana-prince-charles-divorce-timeline/">separated from Princess Diana, his spouse and mother of two children, in 1993</a>, divorced in 1996 and remarried in 2005. </p>
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<img alt="A dark-haired man looks to the side while a blond woman in red smiles while holding a swaddled baby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541064/original/file-20230803-23-mxmjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541064/original/file-20230803-23-mxmjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541064/original/file-20230803-23-mxmjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541064/original/file-20230803-23-mxmjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541064/original/file-20230803-23-mxmjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541064/original/file-20230803-23-mxmjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541064/original/file-20230803-23-mxmjbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Prince Charles (now King Charles) and Princess Diana leave a London hospital in September 1984 with their baby son, Prince Harry. The couple later divorced after a famously unhappy marriage that played out in the public eye.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span>
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<p>The Governor General is the monarch’s representative in Canada, responsible for carrying out the king’s constitutional duties as he spends most of his days in the United Kingdom. The current holder of the position — Mary Simon — has also been divorced. </p>
<p>As such, Canadians probably won’t take much notice of the Trudeau separation. Indeed, Trudeau’s father Pierre <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/28/archives/trudeaus-separate-he-keeps-children-trudeau-and-his-wife-separate.html">famously separated from Margaret Trudeau, his spouse</a> (and Justin’s mother), while he was prime minister after several years of marriage. </p>
<p>There was certainly fretting within the Prime Minister’s Office at the time about the public optics of the separation — and suggestions it could actually <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/politics/marriage-breakup-likely-wont-impact-trudeaus-political-image-analysts">make Canadians more sympathetic towards the elder Trudeau.</a> He remained prime minister for another six years, and retained primary responsibility for three young children — Canada’s first and only single dad prime minister until this week.</p>
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<h2>Bachelor prime ministers</h2>
<p>Canada has had bachelor prime ministers. </p>
<p>William Lyon Mackenzie King, for example, was single during his entire 21-year tenure in the first half of the 20th century. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541066/original/file-20230803-17-cwwxjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows two men in suits in conversation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541066/original/file-20230803-17-cwwxjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541066/original/file-20230803-17-cwwxjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541066/original/file-20230803-17-cwwxjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541066/original/file-20230803-17-cwwxjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541066/original/file-20230803-17-cwwxjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541066/original/file-20230803-17-cwwxjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541066/original/file-20230803-17-cwwxjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and President Franklin D. Roosevelt meet at a conference in Québec City in 1943.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(National Archives of Canada)</span></span>
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<p>By all accounts he had no close intimate relationships, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3545393/canada-150-5-odd-stories-canadian-prime-ministers/">but regularly communicated with the dead</a>, including his mother, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, Leonardo da Vinci, as well has his dogs. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Bedford-Bennett">R.B. Bennett</a> was also a lifelong bachelor.</p>
<p>So Canadians have experienced single prime ministers and separated and divorced prime ministers. Justin Trudeau isn’t setting a precedent.</p>
<p>The Trudeau separation probably won’t have any negative political implications. <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/07/20/opinion/next-federal-election-battle-sexes">Women voters — who overwhelmingly support Trudeau</a> over his Conservative rival Pierre Poilievre — are unlikely to desert him. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/12/success/justin-trudeau-feminism/index.html">Trudeau came to power with a feminist agenda</a> and his first cabinet was half female. It’s a commitment he’s upheld, placing women in key cabinet positions throughout his time in office.</p>
<p>In a few weeks, he might also appoint a woman to the Supreme Court of Canada, which would <a href="https://theconversation.com/justin-trudeau-is-leaving-his-stamp-on-the-supreme-court-of-canada-207667">give women the majority on the nation’s highest court</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/justin-trudeau-is-leaving-his-stamp-on-the-supreme-court-of-canada-207667">Justin Trudeau is leaving his stamp on the Supreme Court of Canada</a>
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<p>What’s more, Trudeau commands a formidable public relations machine that will likely ensure his children, and to whatever extent Grégoire Trudeau might wish, are included in public appearances and events. </p>
<h2>Devil is in the details</h2>
<p>The fallout of the separation might prove more costly if the private struggles of the marriage become public, with evidence of Trudeau acting in a manner unbecoming of a feminist or good partner. </p>
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<img alt="A man with brownish grey hair wearing a dark suit looks down at a news conference." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541067/original/file-20230803-15-1yp5i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541067/original/file-20230803-15-1yp5i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541067/original/file-20230803-15-1yp5i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541067/original/file-20230803-15-1yp5i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541067/original/file-20230803-15-1yp5i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541067/original/file-20230803-15-1yp5i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541067/original/file-20230803-15-1yp5i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">John Tory addresses the media at Toronto city hall in February 2023 as he began to make a scandal-plagued exit from office.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
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<p>Earlier this year, John Tory, the popular married mayor of Canada’s largest city who was elected three times, decided to end his long political career when <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/john-tory-resigning-as-toronto-mayor-after-admitting-to-affair-with-staffer-1.6269556">the media reported on his affair with one of his staff</a>. </p>
<p>For Trudeau, assuming the role of a separated parent will create complications. During Trudeau’s tenure as prime minister, Grégoire Trudeau assumed much of the work of raising their three children. She did not pursue — as she might have — a career other than that of a parent and spouse. The child-rearing may now be split more equally, requiring time-allocation decisions from Trudeau.</p>
<p>As a single parent, Trudeau will surely want to carve out more time for his children and for any relationships that he might wish to pursue. He’s now approaching eight years in power, and at age 51, he might want to re-evaluate his private and family priorities. </p>
<p>Like all parents whose marriage results in separation, nothing will quite be the same for those involved. What changes for Trudeau, and the extent that those changes impact Canada’s political life, will be slowly revealed in the months to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210938/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Klassen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Like everyone whose marriage breaks up, nothing is ever quite the same after. What impact Justin Trudeau’s marital breakup will have on his life and career will be revealed in the months to come.Thomas Klassen, Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2000222023-02-20T14:08:25Z2023-02-20T14:08:25ZFirst ladies from Martha Washington to Jill Biden have gotten outsized attention for their clothing instead of their views<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510612/original/file-20230216-20-smvgcg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">First lady Jill Biden presents her Inauguration Day clothing at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in January 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1246532218/photo/first-lady-jill-biden-presents-her-inauguration-day-attire-to-the-smithsonian-museum.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=3BPQj8nDTYS8WzM8ppPcI26rRc7Exm8QzNj-vQTRrWk=">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>First ladies’ <a href="https://www.marieclaire.com/fashion/g34161434/first-lady-fashion/">fashion choices tend to attract</a> a lot of attention and often, quite literally, go down in history. </p>
<p>Now, with their new home at the Smithsonian Museum’s popular gallery showcasing first ladies’ fashion, the <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/first-lady-jill-biden-inauguration-outfits-smithsonian">inauguration outfits of Jill Biden</a> will attract attention for years to come.</p>
<p>Biden <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/politics/jill-biden-inauguration-day-ensembles-smithsonian/index.html">wore two outfits</a> by young female designers to mark President Joe Biden’s January 2021 inauguration.</p>
<p>She unveiled the new addition to the exhibit in Washington in January 2023, marking a rare occasion when the first lady has publicly spoken about her clothing’s importance. </p>
<p>First ladies’ fashion choices over the years have often been laced with multiple meanings – representing both their husbands’ administrations and politics, and what was happening in the country at the time. The colorful flourishes on Jill Biden’s white inaugural outfit, for example, <a href="https://www.gabrielahearst.com/blogs/stories/dr-jill-biden-inaugural-evening-dress">paid homage</a> to the United States with embroidered flowers, representing all of the country’s states and territories.</p>
<p>But Jill Biden’s office, as a policy, even before she became first lady, generally <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBAoBBXv19Q">has not addressed</a> her clothing, except for particular moments – like when she wore boots that said <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/jill-biden-vote-boots-stuart-weitzman">VOTE</a> ahead of the November 2020 elections, or when she had a <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/jill-biden-state-of-the-union-sunflower-dress">sunflower – the national flower of Ukraine – sewn</a> on her dress to show support for the country shortly after the Russian army invaded Ukraine in 2022. </p>
<p>“It’s kind of surprising, I think, how much commentary is made about what I wear or if I put my hair in a scrunchie,” <a href="https://people.com/style/jill-biden-talks-black-tights-vogue-august-cover-story/">Jill Biden told Vogue</a> in August 2021.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_yj5X8gAAAAJ&hl=en">As a researcher of women in politics</a>, from political candidates to first ladies, I think that Presidents Day this year offers a chance to better understand the meaning of first ladies’ fashion – and the potential missteps of focusing too much on their style choices. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510616/original/file-20230216-24-vjcah7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Black middle aged man wearing a navy blue polo shirt waves and smiles on a balcony, next to a middle aged Black woman with a colorful red and blue patterned dress with thin black straps." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510616/original/file-20230216-24-vjcah7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510616/original/file-20230216-24-vjcah7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510616/original/file-20230216-24-vjcah7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510616/original/file-20230216-24-vjcah7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510616/original/file-20230216-24-vjcah7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510616/original/file-20230216-24-vjcah7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510616/original/file-20230216-24-vjcah7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama deliver remarks at the White House on July 4, 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/118186430/photo/president-obama-delivers-remarks-at-the-white-house.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=Vtwvo0bBzX-cE4JugViW7I_CMSFRzoBNOz0M7TsB5FY=">Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>A focus on fashion is not new</h2>
<p>First lady Helen Taft was the first to give her clothing to the Smithsonian Museum, helping establish the first ladies’ fashion collection in the early 1900s.</p>
<p>Taft donated the white, silk chiffon gown she wore to President William <a href="https://style.time.com/2013/01/18/belles-of-the-ball-an-insiders-look-at-inaugural-gowns/slide/helen-taft-1909-the-dress-that-started-it-all/">Howard Taft’s 1909 inauguration</a>.</p>
<p>Helen Taft’s choice set a precedent for future first ladies, who have continued to donate their inaugural clothing to the museum. Seeing first ladies’ clothing throughout history offers a window into their time in the White House and helps museum visitors better understand past fashion influences. </p>
<p>But first ladies tend to also <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-38224514">receive outsized attention</a> for their fashion choices – dating back to the early days of <a href="https://doleinstitute.org/event/evolution-of-the-modern-first-lady-how-we-got-from-lady-washington-to-dr-biden/">Martha Washington</a>, who was known as a woman of <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/martha-washington/martha-washingtons-style/">high fashion</a>. She insisted on <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/the-style-of-martha-washington/">purchasing English laces</a>, silks, jewelry, footwear, bonnets and dozens of kid gloves and silk stockings, specifying repeatedly that they be of the “best” and “fine” variety.</p>
<h2>Sending a message</h2>
<p>First ladies’ clothing is carefully curated and, at times, comes with <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/photos/2016/11/first-lady-fashion-diplomacy">subtle messages</a> of diplomacy or can be used to make other political statements. </p>
<p>For example, first lady Jackie Kennedy’s iconic, sleek 1960s era look <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/fashion-trends/g40464001/jackie-kennedy-style-essentials/">continues to inspire women</a> around the globe – although she drew criticism for her preference of <a href="https://www.vogue.fr/fashion/fashion-shopping/diaporama/jackie-kennedy-style/14859">French designers</a> during her time in the White House. When her husband John F. Kennedy was assassinated, she refused to change out of her <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/fashion/jacqueline-kennedys-smart-pink-suit-preserved-in-memory-and-kept-out-of-view.html">bloodstained pink suit</a> to show what the assassin had done to her husband.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510893/original/file-20230217-26-xya5ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old colored photo shows a man in a dark suit seated in a car with a lady in a pink suit. Behind them are people in police uniform smiling and watching." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510893/original/file-20230217-26-xya5ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510893/original/file-20230217-26-xya5ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510893/original/file-20230217-26-xya5ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510893/original/file-20230217-26-xya5ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510893/original/file-20230217-26-xya5ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510893/original/file-20230217-26-xya5ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510893/original/file-20230217-26-xya5ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy ride in a motorcade shortly before the president was assassinated in 1963.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/515287546/photo/john-and-jackie-kennedy-with-john-connally-in-automobile.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=3OafTV3DStR-cBpG-bnR1AXQFOy8WiYSwl7RXVmHTjg=">Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Rosalyn Carter also received public blowback for <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/galleries/glamour-and-innovation-mary-matise">wearing the same inaugural gown</a> to President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration in 1977 that she first wore to a ball when he was elected governor of Georgia in 1971. Critics complained that she could have given another American designer a boost with a new dress – but the decision to wear something already in her closet spoke to the Carter administration’s <a href="https://style.time.com/2013/01/18/belles-of-the-ball-an-insiders-look-at-inaugural-gowns/slide/rosalynn-carter-1977-something-old-something-new/">ideas of modesty</a>. </p>
<p>And <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/fashion-trends/g39676289/first-lady-fashion-evolution/">Pat Nixon routinely wore pantsuits</a> during President Richard Nixon’s term from 1969 to 1974 to show support for the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/womens-movement">growing women’s rights movement.</a></p>
<p>Melania Trump, too, found herself subject to public criticism when she wore a jacket with the words <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45853364">“I really don’t care, do u?”</a> printed on the back in 2021. Trump’s team said that the coat was “just a jacket.” But the fashion choice <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/politics/melania-trump-jacket.html">still attracted criticism,</a> especially because she wore the coat to visit migrant children detained at a shelter in Texas. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510638/original/file-20230216-22-docyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The back of a woman with long brown hair is shown getting into a black car. She wears an army green jacket with white writing. A woman wearing a white shirt holds open the car door for her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510638/original/file-20230216-22-docyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510638/original/file-20230216-22-docyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510638/original/file-20230216-22-docyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510638/original/file-20230216-22-docyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510638/original/file-20230216-22-docyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510638/original/file-20230216-22-docyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510638/original/file-20230216-22-docyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former first lady Melania Trump climbs into a motorcade wearing a jacket that says ‘I really don’t care, do u?’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/980585602/photo/first-lady-melania-trump-visits-immigrant-detention-center-on-u-s-border.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=qA-xTTRrP8vo6CctAI0DFa0nPgEJFLDHZgMXfgu4gVQ=">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Making history</h2>
<p>Men in politics rarely gain media attention for their clothing choices – except for the occasional unusual fashion choice, like when then President Barack <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/28/politics/barack-obama-tan-suit-fifth-anniversary/index.html">Obama wore a taupe suit</a> to a news conference. </p>
<p>Former first lady Michelle Obama – herself known for her <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/fashion/michelle-obama-first-lady-fashion.html">chic and often affordable</a> fashion choices – has written about the double standard she and other women in politics faced when it came to the outsized attention their clothing received. </p>
<p>“It seemed that my clothes mattered more to people than anything I had to say,” <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a24796896/michelle-obama-becoming-excerpt/">she wrote</a> in her 2018 book, “Becoming”. </p>
<p>Because of an intense interest in what first ladies wear, it does not seem surprising that <a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/first-ladies/introduction">one of the most popular</a> exhibits at the National Museum of American History is <a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/first-ladies">First Ladies</a>. The exhibit features more than two dozen gowns from the Smithsonian’s almost 100-year old First Ladies collection.</p>
<p>In the past, first ladies typically have donated glittering ball gowns that they wore to the inaugural balls. Jill Biden’s donation included two knee-length dresses with matching coats and, for the first time in history, matching face masks. They are a sobering reminder of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was still raging during the inauguration. </p>
<p>All of the first ladies’ clothing becomes an important part of American history. Each item helps people look back and understand the exact circumstances surrounding each inauguration. </p>
<p>But when public figures like Jill Biden choose not to discuss the nuances of their clothing every time there is interest, I think that they may create more focus on the work of their office, instead of what they are wearing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200022/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nichola D. Gutgold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On Presidents Day, a women in politics scholar examines the meaning, and sometimes outsized focus, on first ladies’ fashion choices.Nichola D. Gutgold, Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1323012020-02-25T13:52:08Z2020-02-25T13:52:08Z100,000 Indians say ‘Namaste Trump’ and the president ignores some key human rights concerns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316893/original/file-20200224-24676-1n1wfoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=224%2C30%2C3174%2C2369&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, India.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Namaste-Trump/3ffb90d2076047c8bf66a6ddb94213d4/24/0">AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-usa-trump/namaste-trump-modi-holds-huge-rally-for-presidents-visit-idUSKCN20I0B6">kicked off his first official</a> visit to India by addressing a rally of more than 100,000 people on Feb. 24 in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat. </p>
<p>Trump <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/india-usa-trump/namaste-trump-modi-holds-huge-rally-for-us-presidents-india-visit-idINKCN20I0BA">promised</a> the thousands of cheering Indians who greeted him “an incredible trade deal” and “the most feared military equipment on the planet.” </p>
<p>Accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, he then toured Sabarmati ashram, where Mahatma Gandhi lived for 13 years. Afterwards, Trump visited the Taj Mahal, a 17th-century mausoleum built by an Indian emperor for his beloved wife. </p>
<p>Trump and Modi have built a <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/indias-modi-seeks-personal-rapport-with-donald-trump-on-us-visit/a-39387071">personal rapport</a>. The U.S. president’s 36-hour visit to India – named “Namaste Trump” – is seen as India returning the favor for “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/02/23/807481509/india-set-to-welcome-trump-whose-first-stop-will-be-in-modis-home-state-of-gujar">Howdy Modi</a>” – a rally in Texas in fall 2019, where the two leaders appeared together. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-india-visit-opens-with-more-symbolism-than-substance-as-he-celebrates-ties-with-a-fellow-nationalist/2020/02/24/4396ea2c-56d1-11ea-ab68-101ecfec2532_story.html">few news reports</a> had suggested that Modi and Trump could discuss <a href="https://time.com/5617161/india-religious-hate-crimes-modi/">rising violence</a> and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/01/30/india-citizenship-act-caa-nrc-assam/">discrimination against religious minorities in India</a>. However, media reports noted that President Trump later <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/02/24/trump-india-live-updates-2/">defended Prime Minister Modi</a> on religious freedom in India, even as riots broke out in New Delhi, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-51612461">leaving at least 10 people dead</a>. </p>
<p>I am a scholar <a href="https://polisci.indiana.edu/about/faculty/ganguly-sumit.html">who studies U.S. foreign policy</a> toward India. In the past, U.S. administrations concerned with boosting trade with India have celebrated the two countries’ <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/reports/2018/01/14/444786/united-states-india-forging-indispensable-democratic-partnership/">shared commitment to democracy and human rights</a>. Under the Trump administration, I argue, the relationship is in danger of becoming purely transactional. </p>
<h2>Departing from the past</h2>
<p>Over the past several decades, American presidents, regardless of political affiliation, have reaffirmed the shared values that have bound the two states.</p>
<p>Despite the <a href="https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199354863.001.0001/acprof-9780199354863">ebbs and flows in the India-U.S. relationship</a>, both sides have long seen democracy as an important link. </p>
<p>In 1977, President Jimmy Carter visited India shortly after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi lost an election. Gandhi had declared a <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691186726/emergency-chronicles">state of emergency</a> in India, ruthlessly curtailing civil rights and personal liberties. Carter opposed providing U.S. nuclear fuel to India because India had conducted a nuclear test in 1974, arguing that it had violated the spirit of a prior agreement.</p>
<p>Nevertheless Carter went out of his way to <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Hope_and_the_reality.html?id=4Cp2AAAAMAAJ">laud India</a> for its ability to restore democratic practices, following the state of emergency. Several decades later, a president of a wholly different ideological leaning, George W. Bush, adopted a markedly similar stance when hosting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a state visit in Washington.</p>
<p>When introducing his visitor to his wife Laura Bush, the U.S. president famously <a href="https://time.com/3817133/india-muslim-assimilation-islam-us/">celebrated the absence of religious extremism in India</a>, calling it “a democracy which does not have a single al-Qaeda member in a population of 150 million Muslims.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316898/original/file-20200224-24655-1u83b57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316898/original/file-20200224-24655-1u83b57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316898/original/file-20200224-24655-1u83b57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316898/original/file-20200224-24655-1u83b57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316898/original/file-20200224-24655-1u83b57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316898/original/file-20200224-24655-1u83b57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316898/original/file-20200224-24655-1u83b57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with first lady Laura Bush and Singh’s wife, Gursharan Kaur.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-Dist-of-Columbi-/3134807c36e1da11af9f0014c2589dfb/13/0">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bush went on to attribute the absence of Islamic extremism in India to its commitment to democracy. </p>
<p>By the time of the first George W. Bush administration, the Indo-U.S. bilateral relationship had opened up a significant market for American goods. </p>
<p>A big reason for this growing trade relationship was a <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/1964-01-01/pakistan-american-alliance">shift in India’s U.S. foreign policy</a>. Even as trade grew, the U.S. presidents have not <a href="https://www.cfr.org/event/conversation-prime-minister-dr-manmohan-singh">shied away</a> from criticizing India. </p>
<p>After President Barack Obama’s second visit to India in 2015, he <a href="https://www.bokus.com/bok/9781526135018/the-united-states-in-the-indo-pacific/">criticized</a> India’s failure to uphold human rights during Prime Minister Modi’s first term in office. </p>
<p>“Every person has the right to practice his religion or not to practice it if they choose so without persecution,” <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/27/remarks-president-obama-address-people-india">Obama stated</a> in a speech in Mumbai shortly before his departure from India on Jan. 27, 2015. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316903/original/file-20200224-24685-4t7zkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316903/original/file-20200224-24685-4t7zkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316903/original/file-20200224-24685-4t7zkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316903/original/file-20200224-24685-4t7zkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316903/original/file-20200224-24685-4t7zkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316903/original/file-20200224-24685-4t7zkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316903/original/file-20200224-24685-4t7zkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Barack Obama during his second visit to India in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-India-US-Obama/dc7fc29d076149dc91a6293b9213f988/31/0">AP Photo/Saurabh Das</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A transactional relationship?</h2>
<p>Trump’s visit diverges from this past of U.S. presidents alternately celebrating and critiquing democracy in India. Trump seems to be focused on material issues – primarily India’s increasing spending on U.S. military supplies. </p>
<p>In recent years, defense and military sales relationship with India have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/world/asia/india-military-exercises-trump.html">burgeoning</a>, growing some 557% between 2013 and 2017 over the previous five-year period and now reaching <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/world/asia/india-military-exercises-trump.html">almost US$20 billion</a>. In early February of this year India announced it would <a href="https://theprint.in/defence/cabinet-clears-2-4-billion-deal-for-mh-60-romeo-helicopters-for-navy-ahead-of-trump-visit/368061/">purchase</a> $2.4 billion in Sikorsky naval helicopters from the U.S. </p>
<p>These military acquisitions, in considerable part, stem from <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2020/02/04/new-weapons-purchases-suffer-under-indias-latest-defense-budget/">India’s growing apprehensions</a> about China. These fears stem from China’s military capabilities arrayed along much of India’s Himalayan border and the failure to resolve a border dispute. </p>
<p>Indeed Trump has adopted a hard line stance toward India when it comes to business transactions. On the eve of his departure to New Delhi, Trump <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/India-US-struggle-to-bridge-trade-disputes-as-15076132.php">ended</a> India’s preferential trade status as a developing country. The move could impose as much as $260 million in new duties and is meant to induce India to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/business/trump-india-trade.html">open up its markets</a> to a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-18/india-offers-concessions-on-u-s-farm-goods-to-reach-trade-deal">range of American manufactured and agricultural products</a>. </p>
<h2>A requiem for human rights?</h2>
<p>Missing from Trump’s visit is any allusion whatsoever to recent disturbing political developments in India. </p>
<p>In early August 2019, India <a href="https://time.com/5706847/what-happens-now-kashmir/">ended the special status</a> of the portion of the state of Kashmir, under India’s control. It also placed a number of prominent politicians under house arrest, blocked telephone and internet services and dramatically bolstered its military presence in the region.</p>
<p>In December 2019, India passed the Citizenship Amendment Act, a law that allows the immigration of a range of minorities to India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan but <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/12/11/india-citizenship-bill-discriminates-against-muslims">bars Muslim migrants</a>. Protests that erupted across the country in opposition to the new law have been brutally repressed by police.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316905/original/file-20200224-24680-19dwuud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316905/original/file-20200224-24680-19dwuud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316905/original/file-20200224-24680-19dwuud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316905/original/file-20200224-24680-19dwuud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316905/original/file-20200224-24680-19dwuud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316905/original/file-20200224-24680-19dwuud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316905/original/file-20200224-24680-19dwuud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indian Muslims participate in a protest against a new citizenship law.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Citizenship-Law-Protest/935d58615f0f44ea8da39b4ae6bee104/39/0">AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>India is also drafting a National Register of Citizens, an effort to document all voting-age Indians that could in effect <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/12/they-will-lock-us-up-or-just-kill-us-muslims-fearful-in-west-bengal">disenfranchise</a> millions of poor minorities because of their inability to produce appropriate papers.</p>
<p>All of these policy initiatives have been undertaken since Prime Minister Modi was re-elected in April 2019. Several members of U.S. Congress, most notably U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Seattle, have been outspoken about India’s <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/12/indian-born-u-s-congresswoman-asks-modi-to-rein-in-cow-vigilantes/">human rights challenges</a>. But Trump has stayed silent – and he seems unlikely to break that silence on his first-ever official visit to India.</p>
<p>As I see it, Trump’s message is clear: As long as India opens up its markets to American products, and is willing to make common cause with the United States on some foreign policy issues, the shared commitment to democratic values and civil rights of minorities can be set aside. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sumit Ganguly receives funding from the US Department of State, the US Army War College and is affiliated with the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. </span></em></p>A shared commitment to democracy was always key to the India-US relationship – until Trump. A foreign policy expert explains what’s on the agenda for Trump’s trip to India and what’s missing.Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1167212019-05-08T07:51:31Z2019-05-08T07:51:31ZDonald Trump’s UK state visit: the little details that reveal the true health of the ‘special relationship’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273181/original/file-20190507-103078-154w5t6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Is he here yet?'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU1NzI4NzU4OSwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTIzNDM1NjAxIiwiayI6InBob3RvLzEyMzQzNTYwMS9tZWRpdW0uanBnIiwibSI6MSwiZCI6InNodXR0ZXJzdG9jay1tZWRpYSJ9LCJKTzdmbnNUellzM0RuNmxBcXU3VGViZ2xRZkEiXQ%2Fshutterstock_123435601.jpg&pi=33421636&m=123435601&src=Dlt5IB-TM6niqx9ViIzM0w-1-27">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>British and American officials have yet to discuss the final programme of US president Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48020410">state visit to the UK</a>, scheduled for June 3-6. But fierce debates are already raging over the reception that America’s commander-in-chief will receive when he crosses the Atlantic.</p>
<p>Late last month, the speaker of the House of Lords, Lord Fowler, seemingly contradicted his House of Commons counterpart, John Bercow, by voicing support for a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/30/donald-trump-not-expected-address-parliament-uk-state-visit-bercow">presidential address to parliament</a>. Meanwhile, the Labour MP, David Lammy, has taken to Twitter to argue that Trump is not worthy of the <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidLammy/status/1120465288250712064">honours associated with a state visit</a>.</p>
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<p>Besides making headlines, Trump’s upcoming trip to the UK points to a critical, but so often overlooked, feature of US presidential visits – far from being superficial displays of pomp and pageantry, these events are vital forms of contemporary diplomacy and statecraft.</p>
<p>The mediated spectacles of presidential visits – the speeches, motorcades, dinners and protests – allow the president and host nation to enact their political personae, garner support for government agendas and communicate particular norms and expectations. As the former CBS reporter and director of the US Information Agency, Edward R. Murrow, once put it, presidential travel should be treated as a “<a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKNSF">weapon</a>” to influence popular opinion and underline national policy.</p>
<p>Given their highly politicised nature, even the smallest details of presidential visits can have far-reaching consequences – as the following examples of previous presidential trips to the UK make clear.</p>
<h2>President Donald Trump (2018)</h2>
<p>The clothes of the current first lady, Melania Trump, have frequently been a <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/photos/2018/10/melania-trumps-most-controversial-fashion-choices">source of controversy and discussion</a>. But when Trump visited the UK in 2018, it was the clothing of Her Majesty the Queen that risked causing a political upset.</p>
<p>On the first day of Trump’s trip, the Queen wore a vintage, flower-shaped pin that had been presented to her by former US president <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/kgb-vip-gifts-214292">Barack Obama during a state visit in 2011</a>.</p>
<p>Although this decision may have simply been a way of marking the arrival of another US president – the pin has been unofficially named the “<a href="http://queensjewelvault.blogspot.com/2013/08/flashback-state-visit-from-united.html">American State Visit Brooch</a>” – it was interpreted by some as an attempt to embarrass Trump and quickly gained the title of “<a href="https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/bjbnqz/broochgate-queen-elizabeths-fashion-fans-flames-of-trump-furor">Broochgate</a>”.</p>
<p>By electing to wear this particular item of jewellery, observers suggested, the Queen was expressing her preference for Obama and highlighting the warm friendship that the two heads of state <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/19/17586942/queen-elizabeth-brooch-warfare-trump-obama-code">had reportedly shared</a>.</p>
<h2>President Barack Obama (2011)</h2>
<p>On a sunny afternoon during President Obama’s visit to the UK in 2011, he and the then-prime minister, David Cameron, helped to host a barbecue for British and American service personnel in the garden of 10 Downing Street.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273182/original/file-20190507-103057-1or503t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273182/original/file-20190507-103057-1or503t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273182/original/file-20190507-103057-1or503t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273182/original/file-20190507-103057-1or503t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273182/original/file-20190507-103057-1or503t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273182/original/file-20190507-103057-1or503t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273182/original/file-20190507-103057-1or503t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Barack Obama: likes a barbecue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU1NzI4Nzc5MiwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfNTYwNDEwNjgxIiwiayI6InBob3RvLzU2MDQxMDY4MS9tZWRpdW0uanBnIiwibSI6MSwiZCI6InNodXR0ZXJzd">Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>While this occasion was widely framed in the media as a jovial event away from <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8535590/Barack-Obama-visit-special-culinary-relationship-cemented-with-burgers-and-salad.html">the pressures of politics</a>, it nevertheless represented an important opportunity to ease the tensions that had arisen over the president’s reluctance to expand <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/world/europe/25prexy.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=55F8CFB604023309BAB59D92C26C4692&gwt=pay">US military commitments in Libya</a>.</p>
<p>In Anglo-American society, barbecuing is frequently represented as a <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/articles/manning-the-grill-why-men-are-entranced-by-the-ritual-of-barbecuing/">distinctly “masculine” activity</a>. And, as commentators have noted, it has also become a cornerstone of American identity because of its <a href="https://www.weeklyramble.com/is-american-identity-cooked-up-on-the-grill/">multicultural origins and apparent sociability</a>.</p>
<p>The staging of a barbecue during Obama’s visit, then, may well have been viewed by planners as a way to bridge the diplomatic rift that had opened up between the president and prime minister by showcasing their common “manliness” during an event widely seen as a value-laden US icon.</p>
<h2>President John F. Kennedy (1961)</h2>
<p>It is not only during recent presidential trips to the UK that apparently mundane objects or events have taken on political significance. When visiting London with her husband in 1961, the first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, is said to have found a dinner at Buckingham Palace somewhat distasteful.</p>
<p>Both the Queen’s appearance and palace decor, Mrs Kennedy informed the photographer, Cecil Beaton, had <a href="https://www.biography.com/news/kennedy-windsor-royal-family-similarities">fallen short of her expectations</a>. The first lady also later admitted that she found the Queen “pretty heavy going” and at times felt <a href="https://www.rd.com/culture/when-jackie-kennedy-met-the-queen/">“resented” by her</a>.</p>
<p>Although the extent to which Mrs Kennedy made her discomfort known at the time is unclear, her comments – which would make their way back to the Royal Family – carried an unmistakable political tone and reflected several crucial facets of the Kennedy presidency.</p>
<p>Perhaps most obviously, her remarks about the British monarch tied neatly into the Kennedy administration’s call to advance a “New Frontier” of American society that would abandon the trappings of the “Old World” and give way to an innovative, independent, republican future.</p>
<h2>Pomp and pageantry</h2>
<p>The policy implications of Trump’s state visit to the UK in June are not yet clear. What is certain, however, is that when US and British officials sit down to finalise the trip’s schedule, they will do so with specific agendas in mind and will to seek mobilise the most mundane details – from suits to seating-plans, music to make-up – in order to achieve them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ed Bryan receives funding from Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. </span></em></p>As former director of the US Information Agency, Edward R. Murrow, once put it, presidential travel should be treated as a ‘weapon’ to influence popular opinion.Ed Bryan, PhD Candidate, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048242018-10-14T12:14:24Z2018-10-14T12:14:24ZMelania Trump’s pith helmet is not just a hat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240325/original/file-20181011-154583-1mjdhu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">First lady Melania Trump looks out over Nairobi National Park in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, during a safari guided by Nelly Palmeris, right. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sometimes a hat is just a hat. But not when it’s a pith helmet worn by a white politician visiting Africa. Pith helmets are relics of colonialism and its big game hunting tradition. So why would Melania Trump wear one? </p>
<p>On a solo tour of Africa, the United States first lady stopped in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Egypt. She went on safari. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/10/talk-about-melania-trump-africa-wardrobe-pith-helmet-nazi">The pictures of her in a pith helmet</a> and looking rather inscrutable went around the world. Although the first lady said: “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/10/talk-about-melania-trump-africa-wardrobe-pith-helmet-nazi">I want to talk about my trip, not what I wear,</a>” it is impossible to not talk about the ways race and space collide in this image. </p>
<p>This, of course, is not the first time Trump has been challenged on her clothing choices. After she wore a jacket that said <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/opinion/trump-family-separation-melania-jacket.html">“I really don’t care, do u?”</a> while en route to an immigrant child detention centre, many claimed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/22/did-melanias-jacket-hide-message-and-do-u-really-care">her choice of clothing was carefully scripted</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781134329670/chapters/10.4324%2F9780203392270-9">Safari is a multi-million dollar industry</a> in Africa. It is most often talked about in terms of tourism, conservation, poaching and big game hunting. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23251042.2014.971479">Let’s add race to that mix</a>.</p>
<h2>The legacy of safari hunting</h2>
<p>Most safari tourists, like Melania Trump, <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1311400/african-tourism-boards-are-ignoring-the-lucrative-market-in-the-black-diaspora/">are white</a>. The people driving them around, carrying their bags and doing their cooking are mostly Black. <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520229495/images-and-empires">Visually, not much has changed</a> since the colonial days of explorers and big-game hunters in Africa. </p>
<p>In the old days, white people had the guns and wore the pith helmets. Trump’s choice of headgear continues that tradition.</p>
<p>Trump has another link to colonial big game hunting. <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2012/03/15/video_donald_trumps_sons_battle_peta_over_killing_african_big_game_animals.html">Six years ago, her stepsons – Eric and Donald Trump Jr. – bagged an elephant, leopard and water buffalo on their African hunting safari.</a> </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240437/original/file-20181012-109242-1h0e7a4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240437/original/file-20181012-109242-1h0e7a4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240437/original/file-20181012-109242-1h0e7a4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240437/original/file-20181012-109242-1h0e7a4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240437/original/file-20181012-109242-1h0e7a4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240437/original/file-20181012-109242-1h0e7a4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240437/original/file-20181012-109242-1h0e7a4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240437/original/file-20181012-109242-1h0e7a4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Donald Trump Jr. on a hunting trip in Zimbabwe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">YouTube/Hunting Legends</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the time, the Trump men argued that it was a legal trophy hunt and that trophy hunting like theirs provides funds to help communities with conservation. For example, this summer a white woman from Kentucky, <a href="http://time.com/5330261/giraffe-tess-thompson-talley-outrage/">Tess Thompson Talley</a>, killed a giraffe in South Africa. Was the dead animal sprawled at her feet a testament to her prowess as a hunter who’s comfortable in the bush and knows her way around a gun? Talley said her hunt was legal and that the money she spends “<a href="http://time.com/5330261/giraffe-tess-thompson-talley-outrage/">"hunting in Africa goes towards local wildlife preservation.</a>” </p>
<p>The trouble is the line between legal and illegal becomes blurred when dollars, pounds and euros are at stake. Let’s not forget <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/wildlife-watch-cecil-trophy-hunting-andrew-loveridge/">Cecil the Lion</a>, when the legal lines are more clear. In 2015, Cecil was lured and killed outside of a protected conservation park by Minnesota dentist and avid trophy hunter <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/03/07/cecil-the-lion-died-incredibly-cruel-death-so-hunter-could-secure-record-book/">Walter Palmer</a>. </p>
<p>These are some infamous examples of American trophy hunters. Their main competitors in the African safari kills are the British and Germans. <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/11934535/Huge-tusked-African-elephant-killed-by-german-hunter-in-Zimbabwe.html">A German hunter legally killed one of the largest elephants in Zimbabwe in October 2015.</a></p>
<p>Big-game hunters like to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14725860310001631985">pose with their kill</a> on social media. These kill shots are popular. It’s a way of bragging that the hunter was rich enough to go to Africa to hunt. In this context, it becomes just another version of conspicuous consumption. </p>
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<p>Black people are rarely featured in these kill shots, and when they are, they don’t have the guns. Those are in the hands of white people. To me it’s the same old story that has nothing to do with conservation; it is race, power and privilege on display.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240447/original/file-20181012-109222-j3ppv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240447/original/file-20181012-109222-j3ppv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240447/original/file-20181012-109222-j3ppv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240447/original/file-20181012-109222-j3ppv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240447/original/file-20181012-109222-j3ppv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240447/original/file-20181012-109222-j3ppv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240447/original/file-20181012-109222-j3ppv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Theodore Roosevelt and unidentified man standing over a killed hippopotamus. In the background are African workers who will skin the animal. July-December, 1909, during the Smithsonian/Roosevelt African Expedition of 1909-1910.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Poaching for ‘medicine’</h2>
<p>Trophy hunting is just one factor driving the extinction of rhinos and elephants in Africa. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/49/4/451/325177">Poaching is the bigger issue</a>. Race and the history of colonialism are factors here too. </p>
<p>The road to extinction is driven by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320714003371">demands for horns and tusks in Asian</a> countries like China, South Korea and Vietnam. African animal parts are used in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/480S101a">traditional medicines</a> to cure a whole range of supposed ailments. The cures do not stand up to modern medicine. The rotting carcasses littering the African landscape seems to be a small price for a <a href="http://time.com/4501268/vietnam-africas-rhino-poaching-crisis/">dubious elixir</a>. </p>
<p>African governments are complicit in not enforcing anti-poaching laws. While this is true, it also ignores the legacy of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586504/how-europe-underdeveloped-africa-by-walter-rodney/9781788731188/">colonial economics in Africa</a>.</p>
<p>African poachers killing the equivalent of their golden goose are at the bottom of the food chain; they receive a few dollars for a horn that will resell for thousands in Asia. The continent continues to be a key source of raw materials for the rest of the world. The trade in rhino horns and elephant tusks fits the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/240436">colonial pattern of exploitation</a>.</p>
<p>The ivory and horn trade is ancient and has been going on for millennia. The trade was sustainable when they were a rare luxury item. The <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01012.x">scale of the trade has exploded</a> along with rising incomes; the Asian middle class can now afford it. Africa does not have a limitless supply of animals to slaughter.</p>
<h2>My African safari</h2>
<p>Long ago, I too went on safari, in Tanzania and Zambia. I saw the much fabled big five — lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo. I shot them with my camera. As a Black woman, I was the rarity among the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23251042.2014.971479">foreign safari tourists</a>. The Africans called me the Black mzungu. In other words <em>the Black white woman</em>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240448/original/file-20181012-109239-19f5ps4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240448/original/file-20181012-109239-19f5ps4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240448/original/file-20181012-109239-19f5ps4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240448/original/file-20181012-109239-19f5ps4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240448/original/file-20181012-109239-19f5ps4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240448/original/file-20181012-109239-19f5ps4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240448/original/file-20181012-109239-19f5ps4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama and her family ride their safari vehicle in Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa in June 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Camping in Ngorongoro Crater, I had to remind myself that the setting was real and that the animals could kill. This was necessary because false romantic images from movies like <em>Born Free</em> and <em>Out of Africa</em> were stuck in my head. </p>
<p>A Kenyan safari guide, in fact, told <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/fashion-trends/a23657403/melania-trump-africa-clothes-style/"><em>Town and Country</em></a> that Melania’s pith helmet made them smile, adding “…we haven’t seen that look in East Africa since Meryl Streep was filming <em>Out of Africa</em> 30 years ago!”</p>
<p>The films and television shows are colonial fantasies. In both, the Africans were mere background characters, there to support the latter-day colonial explorers dressed up as conservationists.</p>
<p>Melania Trump’s pith helmet was never just a hat to keep off the sun. It is a symbol of how race and colonialism ghosts shape the African landscape when it comes to safari, poaching and trophy hunting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104824/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline L. Scott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When you are the first lady of the United States, your fashion choices are scrutinized. Why did Melania Trump choose to wear a pith helmet, a classic symbol of colonialism?Jacqueline L. Scott, PhD Student, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/987902018-06-25T10:33:54Z2018-06-25T10:33:54ZWhy care about undocumented immigrants? For one thing, they’ve become vital to key sectors of the US economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224568/original/file-20180624-26555-1luykq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Suzanne Mayes reacts to Melania Trump's jacket as she collects toys for detained families.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The nation’s <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/11/how-americans-see-illegal-immigration-the-border-wall-and-political-compromise/">attention</a> is once again focused on the southern border, where President Trump <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44319094">claims</a> the U.S. is facing a “crisis” over illegal immigration</p>
<p>Immigrants play vital roles in the U.S. economy, erecting American buildings, picking American apples and grapes and taking care of American babies. Oh, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/13/17229018/undocumented-immigrants-pay-taxes">paying American taxes</a>.</p>
<p>My work as the director of the <a href="https://farmworkers.cornell.edu">Cornell Farmworker Program</a> involves meeting with undocumented workers in New York, and the farmers who employ them. Here’s a snapshot of who they are, where they work – and why Americans should care about them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many wondered whether Melania Trump was saying she didn’t care about undocumented children separated from their parents when she wore this coat on a trip to meet them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A snapshot of who they are</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/03/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/">Pew Research Center</a> estimates that about 11.3 million people are currently living in the U.S. without authorization, down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. <a href="https://immigration.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000845">More than half</a> come from Mexico, and about 15 percent come from other parts Latin America.</p>
<p><iframe id="dgnDt" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/dgnDt/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>About 8 million of them have jobs, <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/11/03/size-of-u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-workforce-stable-after-the-great-recession/">making up 5 percent</a> of the U.S. workforce, figures that have remained more or less steady for the past decade. </p>
<p>Geographically, these unauthorized workers are spread throughout the U.S. but are unsurprisingly <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/11/03/appendix-b-additional-charts-2/#among-states">most concentrated</a> in border states like California and Texas, where they make up about 9 percent of both states’ workforces, while in Nevada, their share is over 10 percent.</p>
<p><iframe id="gA0Rx" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gA0Rx/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Their representation in particular industries is even more pronounced, and the Department of Agriculture <a href="https://www.doleta.gov/agworker/report9/naws_rpt9.pdf">estimates</a> that about half of the nation’s farmworkers are unauthorized, <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/11/03/size-of-u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-workforce-stable-after-the-great-recession/">while 15 percent of those in construction</a> lack papers – more than the share of legal immigrants in either industry. In the service sector, which would include jobs such as fast food and domestic help, the figure is about 9 percent.</p>
<p><iframe id="O6NFS" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/O6NFS/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Further studies show that the importance of this population of workers will only grow in coming years. For example, in 2014, <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2017/05/11/431974/immigrant-workers-important-filling-growing-occupations/">unauthorized immigrants</a> made up 24 percent of maids and cleaners, an occupation expected to need 112,000 more workers by 2024. In construction, the number of additional laborers needed is estimated at close to 150,000. And while only 4 percent of personal care and home health aides are undocumented, the U.S. will soon require more than 800,000 people to fill the jobs necessary to take care of retiring baby boomers.</p>
<h2>Vital to American farms</h2>
<p>Since <a href="https://www.vox.com/a/explain-food-america">agriculture</a> is the industry that’s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/06/can-americas-farms-survive-the-threat-of-deportations/529008/">most reliant on undocumented workers</a> – and it’s my area of expertise and research – let’s zoom in on it.</p>
<p>Overall, the agricultural industry in the United States has been on the decline since 1950. Back then, farming was a family business that <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-labor/">employed more than 10 million workers</a>, 77 percent of whom were classified as “family.” As of 2000 – the latest such data available – only <a href="https://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/Highlights/Farm_Demographics/">3 million work on farms</a>, and as noted earlier, an estimated half are undocumented.</p>
<p>Increasingly, dairy farms such as those in New York <a href="http://publications.dyson.cornell.edu/outreach/extensionpdf/2016/Cornell-Dyson-eb1612.pdf">rely on workers</a> from Mexico and Guatemala, many of whom are believed to be undocumented. Currently, there is no visa program for year-round workers on dairy farms, so the precarious status of these workers poses serious concerns for the economic viability of the dairy industry.</p>
<p>In 2017 research <a href="https://cardi.cals.cornell.edu/sites/cardi.cals.cornell.edu/files/shared/Creating%20Positive%20Workplaces%20Guidebook%20-%20Master%20%28GJR49-12-8-17%29.pdf">conducted</a> by the Cornell Farmworker Program, 30 New York dairy farmers told us they turned to undocumented workers because they were unable to find and keep reliable U.S. citizens to do the jobs. That’s in part because farm work can be physically demanding, dirty and socially denigrated work. More importantly, it is <a href="https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/04/the-most-dangerous-jobs-in-america-000395">one the most dangerous occupations</a> in the U.S.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.nmpf.org/files/immigration-survey-090915.pdf">study</a> commissioned by the dairy industry suggested that if federal labor and immigration policies reduced the number of foreign-born workers by 50 percent, more than 3,500 dairy farms would close, leading to a big drop in milk production and a spike in prices of about 30 percent. Total elimination of immigrant labor would increase milk prices by 90 percent.</p>
<p>The U.S. fruit, vegetable and meat industries <a href="http://www.fb.org/newsroom/food-prices-ag-economy-tied-to-proper-labor-reform">are similarly at risk</a>, and without the help of unauthorized workers, production would drop and consumers would likely see higher prices.</p>
<p>This has become of <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wisconsin-dairy-industry-undocumented-workers_us_59c3cfb7e4b06f93538cfd3f">particular concern</a> as immigration enforcement in agricultural communities <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/ice-deportation-arrests-soar-under-trump-administration-drop-border-arrests-n826596">intensifies</a>.</p>
<p>Although the focus is usually on the southern border, what happens in the north matters as well, in part because the <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/05/who-lives-in-border-patrols-100-mile-zone-probably-you-mapped/558275/">Border Patrol’s 100-mile jurisdiction</a> means immigrants living in most of New England can be pursued anywhere. As such, the <a href="http://www.revistascisan.unam.mx/Voices/pdfs/10226.pdf">surge in immigration</a> enforcement along the border with Canada in recent years has resulted in <a href="http://digital.vpr.net/post/undocumented-workers-vermont-farms-2017-was-year-filled-anxiety#stream/0">more farmworkers</a> being deported. </p>
<p>It also has meant fresh produce has been gone unpicked, left to rot in fields. One New York apple grower told us that due to labor shortages and dwindling prices for his red delicious variety, he plans to let his 100-year-old orchard go, because any investments in production would result in significant economic loss. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Hispanic worker watches the milking operation at a farm in Fairfield, Vermont.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Toby Talbot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who cares? Most Americans</h2>
<p>Judging by the pronouncements from the White House, you might think most people don’t realize how integral undocumented immigrants are to the U.S. economy. But in fact, polls suggest that Americans do understand this, and also don’t believe that immigrants take their jobs.</p>
<p>In a poll Cornell conducted in 2017, we asked New Yorkers, “How do you believe undocumented farmworkers impact local communities?”</p>
<p>About 75 percent of those we polled said they have “generally positive impacts,” up from <a href="https://cardi.cals.cornell.edu/sites/cardi.cals.cornell.edu/files/shared/MJDudley_Farmworker-Impacts-on-Communities_NYS_2009.pdf">62 percent in 2008</a>. Of those who had a positive impression, most said it was because migrants fill jobs unwanted by citizens or provide essential farm help and keep prices low.</p>
<p>And national polling backs this up. A <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2016/08/25/on-immigration-policy-partisan-differences-but-also-some-common-ground/">2016 Pew poll found</a> that 76 percent believe undocumented immigrants are as honest and hard-working as U.S. citizens, while 71 percent said they mostly fill jobs that Americans aren’t willing to do.</p>
<p>Not only are there lots of reasons to care, the vast majority of Americans actually do.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated from its original version.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98790/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Jo Dudley receives funding from the New York Farm Viability Institute (NYFVI) to conduct research on "Improving Workplace Communications: Opportunities for Worker Training and Advancement". She previously received funding from NYFVI to conduct research and extension activities related to "Strategies for Improved Workplace Relations and Farmworker Retention in New York State."
</span></em></p>A researcher takes a closer look at the millions of unauthorized workers who play an essential role in the U.S. economy – and why they matter.Mary Jo Dudley, Director of Cornell Farmworker Program, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/900842018-01-15T16:35:09Z2018-01-15T16:35:09ZWhat we can learn from closure of charter school that DeVos praised as ‘shining example’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201838/original/file-20180114-101508-11c46m0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">First lady Melania Trump, Queen Rania of Jordan and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos talk with students at the Excel Academy Public Charter School last April. Principal Dana Bogle, on left.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Melania-Trump-Jordan/a83f0c02b59345fa98f6991aae7eed86/1/0">AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and first lady Melania Trump visited Excel Academy Public Charter School last spring, DeVos praised the school as a “<a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-education-betsy-devos-issues-statement-visit-excel-academy-first-lady-melania-trump-and-queen-rania-jordan">shining example</a> of a school meeting the needs of its students, parents and community.” Melania Trump called the charter school “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/readout-first-lady-melania-trumps-visit-excel-academy-public-charter-school-queen-rania-jordan/">an exceptional example</a> of a school preparing young women both academically and personally so that they may succeed in a global community.”</p>
<p>The visit made <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/whats-melania-trump-doing-now-first-lady-visited-dc-charter-school-queen-rania-jordan-2521614">international headlines</a> due to the fact that it also featured Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan. In terms of publicity, a school could not ask for a better platform.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we now know the praise the school got during its brief time on the world stage did not match its poor performance.</p>
<p>On Jan. 11, the DC Public Charter School Board voted unanimously, 6-0, to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/city-charter-board-votes-to-shut-down-dcs-only-all-girls-public-school/2018/01/12/a3a6176e-f7b8-11e7-beb6-c8d48830c54d_story.html?utm_term=.8b7f756e069a">shut down</a> the Pre-K-8, all-girls school at the end of the current school year. The board action wasn’t because of some sudden turn of events after Secretary DeVos, Melania Trump and Queen Raina paid their visit. Instead, <a href="http://www.dcpcsb.org/blog/board-votes-close-excel-academy-pcs">records show</a>, it was because the “trend for student performance over the past several years has been negative, despite any benefits that may have occurred from learning in an all-girl setting.”</p>
<p>Excel Academy charter school now joins the 200 to 300 charter schools that are <a href="http://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/migrated/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/EER_Report_V5.pdf">shut down</a> each year across the nation due to poor performance, financial shortcomings and low enrollments.</p>
<p>The Excel case magnifies how the cost of charter school failure is born by parents and their children, communities, educators and local residents. Indeed, many of the 700 or so girls who currently attend Excel must now scramble to find another school by next fall.</p>
<p>The closure of Excel represents a prime opportunity to focus on what we know about school choice and to move the discussion beyond ideological and partisan debates.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">First lady Melania Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speak with student Michelle McCord, 13, during their visit to the Excel Academy Public Charter School in Washington, in April 2017. The visit was meant to highlight the Trump administration’s focus on school choice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Melania-Trump/d34e3d378dc1481689fdd2651894b027/5/0">(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is particularly crucial since between fall 2004 and fall 2014, overall public charter school enrollment increased from 900,000 to 2.7 million students. During this same period, the percentage of public school students who attended charter schools increased from 2 to 5 percent, and the percentage of all public schools that were charter schools increased from 4 to 7 percent. In addition to increasing in number, public charter schools have also generally <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=30">increased in enrollment size over the last decade.</a></p>
<p>In 2017, the number of students enrolled in charter schools <a href="http://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/migrated/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/EER_Report_V5.pdf">surpassed 3 million nationwide</a> and the number of charter schools <a href="http://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/migrated/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/EER_Report_V5.pdf">reached 6,900</a>. </p>
<p>This past September, the U.S. Department of Education <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-awards-253-million-grants-expand-charter-schools">awarded US$253 million in grants</a> through the <a href="https://innovation.ed.gov/what-we-do/charter-schools/state-entities/">Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Program to states and nonprofit charter management organizations.</a> This level of funding is consistent with the level of federal support for charter schools in previous years.</p>
<p>Given all these developments, there is no better time for an honest discussion about what the research shows about charter school performance.</p>
<p>As the author of <a href="https://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/bio/claire-smrekar">several books on school choice</a> and a researcher who is currently examining the impact of choice policies on families, schools and neighborhoods, there are five points I would highlight that are based on the research on charter schools.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The performance of charter schools as a whole <a href="https://credo.stanford.edu/pdfs/CGAR%20Growth%20Volume%20I.pdf">varies widely</a>. This is the most consistent finding across charter school evaluations. It serves to heighten the importance of continuous monitoring of how charters are authorized – and how they perform – as the number of charter schools continue to multiply across the nation.</p></li>
<li><p>Similarly, the impact of charter middle schools on student achievement is a mixed bag based on various factors. In other words, you can’t say charter middle schools are better or worse than traditional public schools. It all depends. One <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20104029/pdf/20104030.pdf">study</a> examined student performance in 36 charter middle schools across 15 states, and found that charter schools were “neither more nor less successful than traditional public schools in improving student achievement, behavior, and school progress.” The study also found that “charter schools serving more low income or low achieving students had statistically significant positive effects on math test scores, while charter schools serving more advantaged students – those with higher income and prior achievement – had significant negative effects on math test scores.”</p></li>
<li><p>The first three years of charter schools <a href="https://credo.stanford.edu/pdfs/CGAR%20Growth%20Volume%20I.pdf">predict</a> academic performance, financial viability and sustainability. In other words, it’s pretty much do or die for new charter schools. This finding underscores the need to be proactive. It suggests charter authorizers should work with new charter schools at the start – actually, well before the doors open. The proactive approach stands in stark contrast to a “wait to fail” posture where a school lingers and lurches toward the final days of operation. Is this educational malpractice? Maybe so.</p></li>
<li><p>The overall performance of charter schools has <a href="https://credo.stanford.edu/documents/NCSS%202013%20Final%20Draft.pdf">increased</a> between 2009 and 2013. This increase was driven in part by the presence of more high-performing charters and the closure of low-performing charter schools. Thus, while the recent decision to close Excel may be unfortunate for its students, it might ultimately be good for the overall quality and performance of the public charter school sector as a whole.</p></li>
<li><p>Students who attend charter high schools are more likely to graduate than students who attend traditional public high schools. They are also more likely go to college and earn a higher income. “Maximum annual earnings were approximately $2,300 higher for 23- to 25-year-olds who attended charter high schools versus conventional public schools across the state of Florida,” concluded one recent <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pam.21913/epdf?r3_referer=wol&tracking_action=preview_click&show_checkout=1&purchase_referrer=onlinelibrary.wiley.com&purchase_site_license=LICENSE_DENIED_NO_CUSTOMER">study</a> conducted by Vanderbilt University, Mathematica and Georgia State University.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>As new charter schools continue to open at a rapid pace while others are shut down, charter school operators and supporters should pay close attention to what took place at Excel, which first opened its doors in <a href="https://excelpcs.org/">2008</a>. This is particularly true for new charter schools that may be struggling academically.</p>
<p>Darren Woodruff, chair of the DC Public Charter School Board, explained how many of the steps that Excel planned to take to turn things around were too little too late.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.dcpcsb.org/blog/board-votes-close-excel-academy-pcs">written statement</a>, Woodruff said Excel’s recent changes – including the planned addition of a chief academic officer and a school turnaround plan – all represent “welcome steps that ideally would have been implemented when the first indications of decreased student performance became evident.”</p>
<p>“However,” Woodruff said, “without these steps more fully in place and clear data on their impact, this Board lacks convincing evidence that Excel represents the best opportunity for these young girls that we all care so much about.”</p>
<p>The lesson for charter school leaders and advocates is that these kinds of things need to be in place on day one. This is especially important since the research shows the first three years of a charter school are so crucial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Smrekar receives funding from US Dept of Education.
In 2006-08, I was an Investigator with the IES-funded National Center on School Choice at Vanderbilt University, which involved research on charter schools and magnet schools.</span></em></p>Education Secretary Betsy DeVos once called Excel Academy Public Charter School a ‘shining example.’ A Vanderbilt scholar explains why that description was woefully off target.Claire Smrekar, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Education, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/734002017-02-23T21:07:51Z2017-02-23T21:07:51ZDonald Trump, white victimhood and the South African far-right<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157882/original/image-20170222-1364-1h7l7ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr (with the yellow t-shirt) in front of a statue of Paul Kruger at Church Square in Pretoria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alon Skuy/The Times</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the age of smartphones and social media, the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11565661/Viral-memes-are-ruining-our-politics.-Share-if-you-agree.html">spread of ideas as digital memes</a> is global and unpredictable. This includes, for example, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29052144">Islamic State</a> (IS) recruiting followers from across the globe, to the nationalist and xenophobic <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-vote-has-led-to-noticeable-rise-in-uk-xenophobia-watchdog-warns-a7343646.html">ideas</a> that were espoused respectively in the campaigns by <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/brexiteer">Brexiteers</a> to get the UK to <a href="http://www.politico.eu/article/brexit-in-memes-uk-decision-light-hearted-view/">leave the European Union</a> and Donald Trump to <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/7/7/12116242/trump-frozen-antisemitic-meme-clinton">get elected</a> as US president. </p>
<p>Around the world, <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/12/31/13869676/social-media-influence-alt-right">the right</a> especially has shown how effective a tool social media can be.</p>
<p>A good example is popular South African singer <a href="http://synapses.co.za/muppet-takes-puppet-steve-hofmeyr-chestermissing/">Steve Hofmeyr</a>, who is a foremost crusader for <a href="http://www.enca.com/south-africa/red-october-plight-whites-new-south-africa">white right-wing causes</a>, –especially on social media. With 222,000 followers, his Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/steve_hofmeyr">timeline</a> not only features local issues of so-called white victimhood, but also retweets of prominent European extremists’ campaigns. As to be expected, he is a strong Trump supporter.</p>
<p>Recently, there was a fundraising campaign to <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-02-06-in-trump-he-trusts-meet-the-man-who-could-be-the-next-us-ambassador-to-south-africa/#.WKIHg9J96Hs">send Hofmeyr to the US</a> to meet with Trump. The extremist campaigner behind the proposed “talks” said it was aimed at stopping the “genocide” of white Afrikaners. He even sent tweets to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and his wife, Melania, to help facilitate the talks. </p>
<p>But South Africa’s right-wing is a fractious bunch, and the fundraising campaign stuttered to a halt when it appeared that it was a scam and Hofmeyr <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/hofmeyr-withdraws-from-trump-fundraising-20170214">distanced</a> himself from the efforts.</p>
<h2>Victimhood crossing borders</h2>
<p>White victimhood has crossed international borders. The idea of white people falling victim to an “onslaught” of refugees and immigrants has become a <a href="http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-populism/">major factor</a> in elections across Europe. The meaning of “PC” is changing, with political correctness making way for patriotic correctness. That’s what Trump’s “America First” is all about.</p>
<p>Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” <a href="http://www.herald.co.zw/trump-and-fascism-democracy-fatigue/">appealed to</a> white victimhood. He focused on a white electorate who feels disillusioned by demographic and sociopolitical change in the US. They <a href="http://www.salon.com/2017/02/12/trumps-supporters-believe-a-false-narrative-of-white-victimhood-and-the-data-proves-it/">feel</a> that American values are in danger, and hence there is the need to “take back America”.</p>
<p>White victimhood is a <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/01/25/altered-right-how-white-nationalists-exploit-tragedy-build-narrative-white-victimhood">right-wing tactic</a> that inverts the left’s narratives of minority discrimination and neocolonialism. This tactic denies that there is such a thing as white privilege, and attempts to camouflage white domination.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157867/original/image-20170222-1340-5jmgfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157867/original/image-20170222-1340-5jmgfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157867/original/image-20170222-1340-5jmgfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157867/original/image-20170222-1340-5jmgfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157867/original/image-20170222-1340-5jmgfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157867/original/image-20170222-1340-5jmgfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157867/original/image-20170222-1340-5jmgfa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Milo Yiannopoulos has resigned from the righ-twing Breitbart News.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jason Szenes/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whites can surely be victims of crime or discrimination as individuals, but white victimhood goes much further. It implies that whites as a demographic group are victims of discrimination, oppression or even persecution. In short, whites are endangered by all sorts of dangers out there in the world.</p>
<p>This recent right-wing tactic has morphed into the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/alternative-right">“alt-right”</a> movement in America with various faces. The extreme is the new Nazism dressed in designer suits and championed by <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/richard-spencer-speech-npi/508379/">American white supremacist</a> <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/richard-spencer-alt-right-punched-donald-trump-inauguration-a7538746.html">Richard Spencer</a>, who is president of the <a href="http://www.npiamerica.org/">National Policy Institute</a>. </p>
<p>There is the more “gentrified” culture of anti-left trolling with the Brit <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39026870">Milo Yiannopoulos</a> as its <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/an-interview-with-the-most-hated-man-on-the-internet/">flamboyant poster boy</a>. This right-wing provocateur was forced this week <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/21/milo-yiannopoulos-resigns-breitbart-pedophilia-comments">to fall on his sword</a> over remarks in which he appeared to endorse sex between “younger boys” and older men.</p>
<p>And there is <a href="https://qz.com/898134/what-steve-bannon-really-wants/">Trump’s powerful chief strategist</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37971742">Stephen Bannon</a>, with his <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder/this-is-how-steve-bannon-sees-the-entire-world?utm_term=.pnqZjAZKb#.bho5Ek5oB">siege mentality</a> against “Islamic fascism”. </p>
<h2>Alt-right’s South African ties</h2>
<p>The “alt-right” news website <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/02/21/breitbart-under-bannon-breitbarts-comment-section-reflects-alt-right-anti-semitic-language">Breitbart</a> has an editor-at-large (after Bannon’s departure) with strong South African ties. <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2017-02-08-a-south-african-link-to-trumps-inner-circle">Joel Pollak</a>, born in South Africa, was a speechwriter for the opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon from 2002 to 2006 whilst studying in the country.</p>
<p>Pollak is now being floated as Trump’s <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-02-06-in-trump-he-trusts-meet-the-man-who-could-be-the-next-us-ambassador-to-south-africa/#.WKIHg9J96Hs">possible US ambassador in Pretoria</a>. </p>
<p>This South African connection goes deeper. The persecution of whites is an influential idea for the South African far-right. The fear of black violence, the so-called “Swart Gevaar” (Afrikaans for black danger) propagated by the apartheid state, still persists. The most extreme version of this victimhood is “white genocide”. </p>
<p>This idea has been popularised by the Afrikaans pop singers Hofmeyr and <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Law-expert-Sunette-Bridges-order-could-set-precedent-20150401">Sunette Bridges</a> through their <a href="http://www.enca.com/south-africa/red-october-plight-whites-new-south-africa">Red October campaign</a>. They advocate that farm murders in South Africa come down to “white genocide” – farm murders most certainly are <a href="https://issafrica.org/amp/iss-today/farm-attacks-and-farm-murders-remain-a-concern">problematic</a>, even without it being hijacked for political mileage. But they <a href="http://www.farmersweekly.co.za/agri-business/bottomline/the-truth-about-farm-murders/">don’t amount</a> to “white genocide” and affects more than white people.</p>
<p>The right-wing political party Freedom Front Plus has <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2014/11/26/FF-call-on-UN-to-investigate-SA-for-genocide1">called on</a> the UN to investigate white genocide. The <a href="http://www.farmersweekly.co.za/agri-news/south-africa/farm-murder-figures-tau-sa/">numbers</a> show that this idea is sheer hyperbole. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.change.org/p/european-commission-allow-all-white-south-africans-the-right-to-return-to-europe">online petition</a> has also <a href="http://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/on-whites-right-of-return-to-europe--front-nasiona">requested</a> the Council of the EU to <a href="https://www.change.org/p/european-commission-allow-all-white-south-africans-the-right-to-return-to-europe/u/18505106">“allow all white South Africans the right to return to Europe”</a>. The petition says that whites face persecution and ethnic cleansing at home.</p>
<p>The petition has been reinvigorated by Trump’s election as US president and calls him “a new hope for white South Africans”. It now addresses Trump to accept whites from South Africa as refugees to the US.</p>
<p>The idea of white genocide (or annihilation) has spread to the rest of the globe. Views from the South African far-right found its way into two well-known acts of terrorism committed by radicalised white men. </p>
<p>The first was the 2011 mass murder of 77 people (mostly minors) by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/world/europe/anders-breivik-nazi-prison-lawsuit.html?_r=0">Anders Breivik</a> on an island near Oslo in Norway. Breivik’s <a href="https://publicintelligence.net/anders-behring-breiviks-complete-manifesto-2083-a-european-declaration-of-independence/">manifesto</a> “2083 – A European Declaration of Independence” is a reference to his predicted date when Europe becomes a Muslim continent. It includes various references to the persecution of whites in South Africa and a whole section on Afrikaner genocide. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157869/original/image-20170222-1310-1ozjlkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157869/original/image-20170222-1310-1ozjlkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157869/original/image-20170222-1310-1ozjlkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157869/original/image-20170222-1310-1ozjlkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157869/original/image-20170222-1310-1ozjlkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157869/original/image-20170222-1310-1ozjlkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/157869/original/image-20170222-1310-1ozjlkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Norwegian right-wing mass murderer Anders Breivik during a court appearance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lise Aaserud/Scanpix</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second was the 2015 mass shooting of nine black people by <a href="http://time.com/4603863/dylann-roof-verdict-guilty/">Dylann Roof</a> in a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Roof’s manifesto <a href="http://lastrhodesian.net/data/documents/rtf88.txt">“The Last Rhodesian”</a> included a reference to discrimination against whites in South Africa. He also lauds the “success” of apartheid as proof that a black majority can be controlled by a white minority. </p>
<p>Breivik and Roof both raised the fear of persecution of whites as motivation for their actions. They invoked the South African situation as “proof” that whites are in danger due to an onslaught by Muslims (in Europe) and black people (in the US).</p>
<p>Trump’s <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/20/politics/trump-inaugural-address/">mention</a> of “American carnage” in his inaugural address is a continuation of the narrative of white victimhood. It forms the imaginary basis for something similar to the apartheid state’s “Swart Gevaar” – except with Mexicans and Muslims being the “peril”. </p>
<p>Trump’s way to deal with these hyperbolic dangers is the proposed <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/a-border-wall-by-2020-doubt-it/517341/">wall</a> between the US and Mexico, and the Muslim <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/20/politics/trump-new-executive-order-immigration/">travel ban</a> targeting majority-Muslim countries.</p>
<p>The idea of white victimhood played an <a href="http://www.salon.com/2016/06/06/the_politics_of_bigotry_donald_trump_and_the_rise_of_white_racial_victimhood/">important part</a> in Trump’s rise. The South African brand of white supremacy has made a tangible contribution to this narrative of victimhood. It is part of a growing “<a href="https://philcsc.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/interrogating-transnationalism-white-supremacist-cosmopolitanism/">white supremacist cosmopolitanism</a>” and a <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/trump-inauguration-signals-new-world-order-a-1130916.html">Trump New World Order</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73400/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Villet does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The idea of white victimhood played an important part in Donald Trump’s rise. The South African brand of white supremacy has made a tangible contribution to this narrative of victimhood.Charles Villet, Lecturer in Philosophy, School of Social Science, Monash South Africa, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/718942017-01-25T12:53:29Z2017-01-25T12:53:29ZMediocre ‘musical’ La La Land deserves to win at the Oscars – it’s a story for our uninspiring age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154197/original/image-20170125-23845-1bnj07p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lionsgate</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>La La Land deserves its <a href="http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/la-la-land-leads-oscar-nominations_42719.html">record-breaking</a> 14 Oscar nominations, I now realise. When I saw the movie, I wasn’t blown away. A pleasant entertainment, with a pretty central couple and some nice frocks. Two actors dancing like the celebrity winners of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/strictly-come-dancing-35274">Strictly Come Dancing</a> and singing like cruise-ship karaoke. You applaud their efforts and can, to an extent, understand the critical acclaim. We need pleasant distractions right now, in the face of Trump and Brexit. We need nostalgia. I didn’t think it deserved the five star reviews, but I appreciate that <a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-back-to-la-la-land-musicals-nostalgia-and-escaping-reality-71368">people enjoy escapism</a>, especially in a time like this.</p>
<p>But I’ve changed my mind. La La Land deserves its nominations and more: it deserves to win Best Picture. Because it isn’t escapism, it’s a story for our age. Ryan Gosling, who pluckily spent three months learning piano to play the protagonist, is the perfect hero in a year when the new president of the United States can take over with no training. His reality-show-standard song and dance routines are perfectly suited to this new era, when a <a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-business-failures-election-2016-486091?rm=eu">mediocre</a> businessman and second-rate television celebrity can become Commander-in-Chief. If Trump’s Education Secretary <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/betsy-devos-trump-education-pick-historic-historical-blames-staff/">can’t write grammatically</a> or <a href="http://www.vox.com/2017/1/17/14304692/devos-confirmation-hearing-education">answer questions on basic policy</a>, how can we criticise an actor for less-than-perfect performances? Our current culture doesn’t just excuse amateurs, it elevates them to the highest roles.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154199/original/image-20170125-23838-1fvjwft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Expert.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lionsgate</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I thought La La Land borrowed its best scenes from earlier, superior musicals; I may have been technically correct, but I was still wrong. When commercial cinema is saturated with reboots and sequels, La La Land’s <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/12/13/la_la_land_s_many_references_to_classic_movies_from_singin_in_the_rain_to.html">pastiche</a> of An American In Paris, Singin’ In The Rain and so many others counts as originality. At least it cast actors who are still alive, rather than constructing a CGI simulation of Fred Astaire. At least it patched its borrowed moments together into a kind of story, copying and pasting them onto its cute contemporary narrative rather than just offering a best-of clip show. That’s surely all we can wish for, in a week when President Trump’s inaugural address included an uncited <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2017/01/21/did-trump-quote-tom-hardys-batman-villain-inauguration-speech/">quotation from a Batman villain</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/2965622/la-la-lands-white-jazz-narrative/">Some have claimed</a> that La La Land appropriates the black art form of jazz, with Gosling in the white saviour role as its purist champion. But what could be more 2017 than a movie that celebrates <a href="https://theconversation.com/mansplaining-the-word-of-the-year-and-why-it-matters-37091">mansplaining</a> and whitewashing, that has Gosling talking loudly over older, African American musicians to impress his date, and then shows them nodding appreciatively, grateful for his support? La La Land’s approach to jazz is surely acceptable in a year when Melania Trump got away with delivering a speech <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-36832095">seemingly plagiarised from Michelle Obama</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, John Legend’s marginalised appearance as Gosling’s one black friend, who begs him to join a band then sells out the genre with his tacky commercialism, perfectly suits an Academy Awards list that congratulates itself on avoiding “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35349772/oscars-so-white-what-people-are-saying-about-diversity-in-hollywood">Oscars So White</a>” controversy, yet which nominates white men and women over people of colour in the Best Actor/Actress category by a <a href="http://oscar.go.com/nominees">ratio of 4:1</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154200/original/image-20170125-23845-1pbf8lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Legend and Ryan Gosling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lionsgate</span></span>
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<p>I had one remaining reservation about La La Land, when I heard it praised as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/movies/la-la-land-makes-musicals-matter-again.html?_r=0">pioneering new musical</a>, poised to rejuvenate the genre. La La Land opens like a musical, sure, with a big opening number by the whole company – including minor roles for people of colour who disappear after this scene – and continues briefly in that vein, with old-fashioned movie montages and Emma Stone’s roommates dancing around the apartment like the girls in Sweet Charity and West Side Story. But after the next routine, What A Lovely Night, and the first date (City of Stars), the movie gives up on its genre and largely becomes an indie flick with occasional songs. </p>
<p>The opening mode, where characters sing as readily as speak and break unthinkingly into dance, is almost forgotten: compare the relatively realist middle section of La La Land with West Side Story, where the songs and choreography are regular punctuation, an alternative expressive language that the cast can’t resist slipping into when emotions run high. Most of La La Land’s spectacle is in the trailer, edited into enticing glimpses; in the movie itself, these fantasy moments are paced out, with long stretches between them.</p>
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<p>But on second thoughts, I’ve realised that a musical-that-isn’t-a-musical, hailed as the <a href="http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a51400/la-la-land-review/">best musical of the decade</a> in a decade with barely any musicals, is just what we need this year, in our post-truth era of alternative facts, where a president who lost the popular vote can <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/24/fact-check-inauguration-crowd-size/96984496/">boldly lie</a> about things we all saw with our own eyes. A flattering love letter to Hollywood, its film industry and its cinema history, rewarded by an academy whose job it is to celebrate Hollywood, its film industry and its cinema history; what could be more perfectly circular, more self-congratulatory and more suited to the time? </p>
<p>La La Land already plays like an awards show, before it’s won any Academy Awards – it’s a tribute reel, like one of those clever end-of-ceremony acts where Neil Patrick Harris does a song and dance and brings the house down. It’s a white male American dream, a story where the alternate version of what happened to the characters is just as persuasive and powerful, and a lot more glamorous, than what we just saw happening. It’s La La Land. </p>
<p>My mistake was in thinking that this was a made-up world. But we are living in La La Land. It deserves to win <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37483869">bigly</a> at the Oscars: until we all wake up, this is the Best Picture we deserve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71894/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Will Brooker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>No film could be more perfectly circular, more self-congratulatory and more suited to the time.Will Brooker, Professor of Film and Cultural Studies, Kingston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/643282016-08-24T08:22:45Z2016-08-24T08:22:45ZThe Great British Bake Off vs the Presidential Cookie Poll: who comes up trumps?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135186/original/image-20160823-30257-11kivov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 12 contestants about to duel by sourdoughs and shortbreads in series seven of The Great British Bake Off have now been <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37083631">unveiled by the BBC</a>. Given the show’s phenomenal success – some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/08/the-great-british-bake-off-final-nadiya-jamir-hussain-gbbo">13m viewers</a> tuned in to the season finale in 2015, making it the most-watched show of the year – levels of cake-related excitement in the UK are running high. </p>
<p>But in the preamble to the new season of Bake Off, starting on August 24, you might have missed another notable piece of baking news, this time from the other side of the Atlantic. Observing an American electoral ritual inaugurated in 1992, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-2016-first-lady-cookie-contest-is-just-as-weird-as-the-rest-of-the-election/2016/08/17/2c0fb4fa-63c9-11e6-8b27-bb8ba39497a2_story.html">voting has opened</a> in the Presidential Cookie Poll, pitting Melania Trump’s star cookies against Hillary and Bill Clinton’s chocolate chip offerings.</p>
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<p>The temptation, perhaps, is to dismiss these two competitions as mere soufflés, affording the cultural analyst no nutrition. But this would be a mistake. Just as “the purchase of a sponge cake” was a matter of profound interest <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/recipes/jane-austens-food-inspiration/">to Jane Austen</a>, so the contemporary making of baguettes, biscuits and brioches is ripe with intellectual possibilities. Nestling beneath the glaze of a pie is not only an enticing filling for immediate consumption but an array of social meanings to ponder.</p>
<p>National identities, not just competitors’ scores, are up for grabs in baking contests such as the Presidential Cookie Poll and The Great British Bake Off. One way of grasping the issues at stake is to review the troubled history of attempts to clone Bake Off for the American market.</p>
<h2>Incompatible ingredients</h2>
<p>In 2013, under the title of <a href="http://www.cbs.com/shows/american-baking-competition/">The American Baking Competition</a>, CBS attempted to re-purpose Bake Off for the US. Multiple elements of the British original were transposed, including the three-challenge format. Paul Hollywood, one of the two judges of the UK series, was also imported. But the show refused to rise. Having begun with the <a href="http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-american-baking-competition-season-one-ratings-28628/">worst-rated Wednesday evening premiere in CBS’s history</a>, the series struggled for an audience, making its recommissioning inconceivable.</p>
<p>Various explanations have been offered for the show’s failure. One centres upon the naked ambition exhibited by the contestants. In the UK, an engraved cake stand is awarded to the victor of Bake Off; the winner of The American Baking Competition, meanwhile, received $250,000, plus a book contract. Unsurprisingly, then, the US competition was barbed.</p>
<p>Yet we should be cautious about distinguishing hobbyist British baking from a thoroughly capitalistic American counterpart, since to remove Bake Off itself from the realm of economics would be naïve. Not only has the show proved highly exportable to overseas markets, boosting the BBC’s entrepreneurial credentials, it also offers significant commercial opportunities to winners and runners-up. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-great-british-bake-off-became-the-great-british-identity-battle-48851">Nadiya Hussain</a>, last year’s winner, exemplifies this most spectacularly, having earned numerous TV, magazine and newspaper deals since her victory in 2015. </p>
<p>The failure of The American Baking Competition is more attributable to queasily incompatible ingredients. Gentility was combined with abrasion, kindness with cutthroat competition. The effect was one of situating Downton Abbey in an American cityscape.</p>
<p>Comparable mistakes were made in 2015 when ABC tried to replicate Bake Off. This time Mary Berry was involved, paired with a US chef to judge <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCCsXeKkUjs">The Great Holiday Baking Show</a>. Copying of the original was even more slavish, extending to use of the same English setting. Again, however, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/nov/30/great-holiday-baking-show-british-bake-off-abc-copy-fails?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">viewing figures were poor</a>. The deficiency, once more, was incomplete anglicisation. The Great Holiday Baking Show also suffered from the fact that, from 2014, PBS had begun to screen Bake Off itself to American audiences, making any ersatz substitutes superfluous.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135183/original/image-20160823-30238-1jsblay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135183/original/image-20160823-30238-1jsblay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135183/original/image-20160823-30238-1jsblay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135183/original/image-20160823-30238-1jsblay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135183/original/image-20160823-30238-1jsblay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135183/original/image-20160823-30238-1jsblay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135183/original/image-20160823-30238-1jsblay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Back in Britain …</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC</span></span>
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<h2>Baking the nation</h2>
<p>The terms in which Bake Off itself has been received in the US imply a sense of Britain as unchanging, picturesque, pleasingly quaint. Writing in The Atlantic on the Great Holiday Baking Show, Sophie Gilbert <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/the-great-holiday-baking-show/418506/">argued</a>: “baking is nostalgia, baking is home, baking is a warm, cinnamon-scented sense of security”. But while true, this is only a partial insight. Bake Off reveals that baking is many other things as well, including money.</p>
<p>Conversely, the series actually contests a nostalgic Britishness. Geographers David Bell and Gill Valentine have <a href="http://www.academia.edu/718528/World_on_a_Platter_Consuming_Geographies_and_the_Place_of_Food_in_Society">argued</a> that “the food which we think of as characterising a particular place always tells stories of movement and mixing”. These “stories” are brought to the fore in Bake Off by contestants’ recipes from multiple cuisines: Ugne’s Lithuanian honeycake in 2015, for example, or Alvin’s Filipino-inspired jelly bar. With the new series set to feature culinary influences <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37083631">from Cyprus to Ghana</a>, it can confidently be expected not to amount to The Great Brexit Bake Off.</p>
<p>But such open embrace of multiculturalism in baking is not apparent in current choices for the Presidential Cookie Poll. The Clintons adopt a conservative, even nativist stance by choosing America’s favourite cookie. And while Melania Trump’s use of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-2016-first-lady-cookie-contest-is-just-as-weird-as-the-rest-of-the-election/2016/08/17/2c0fb4fa-63c9-11e6-8b27-bb8ba39497a2_story.html">sour cream</a> hints at her Slovenian origins, she remains careful not to overstate non-US influences. </p>
<p>So the America conjured up by the cookie contest is, in fact, more traditional than the Britain of Bake Off. If the poll’s regressive gender politics have eased slightly from its initial iteration as the First Lady Cookie Bake-Off, the sense of nostalgia lingers. The Cookie Poll – along with the prevailing American response to Bake Off itself – fantasises about an older, artisanal world, failing to acknowledge that baking can also teach us about modernity and change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64328/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Dix does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Baking offers some interesting insights into the state of the modern world.Andrew Dix, Lecturer in American Studies, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/627332016-07-22T09:36:10Z2016-07-22T09:36:10ZTrump’s Republican convention was farcical, vacuous and terrifying<p>After the shocking and unprecedented rise of Donald Trump, who overpowered 16 rivals to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, the Republican Party’s 2016 convention was destined to be quite unique. It didn’t disappoint.</p>
<p>Even his most ardent fans know that candidate Trump has zero political experience, and to win the White House, he will have to appeal to many Americans beyond the 45% of Republican primary voters he won in the first half of this year. For any normal candidate, the convention would be the perfect time to turn the ship around, to start looking statesmanlike and sounding serious. </p>
<p>Instead, the Twittersphere could hardly contain itself when it beheld The Donald’s <a href="http://www.wired.com/2016/07/trumps-rnc-entrance-ranks-smoke-machine-pantheon/">grandiose wrestler-style entrance</a> on Monday evening, complete with dramatic lighting and high-decibel music. Hillary Clinton aptly compared it to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2016/jul/19/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-entrance-wizard-of-oz-video">the Wizard of Oz</a>: “You know, lots of sound and fury, even a fog machine. But when you pulled back the curtain it was just Donald Trump, with nothing to offer to the American people.”</p>
<p>Trump deviated from the traditional convention formula by speaking in person before the night of his formal nomination, popping in to introduce his wife on the first evening. His third wife Melania should be a crucial asset to a campaign that has yet to win over most female voters. She delivered her 15-minute script without incident, and for the most part, the content was fairly bland. </p>
<p>But almost immediately after she left the stage, the internet was awash with video clips comparing her musings on family, truth and integrity to a remarkably similar, at times identical, passage from Michelle Obama’s rather more charismatic 2008 convention turn.</p>
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<p>The argument over how it happened took a series of bizarre turns, ending with a Trump-affiliated speechwriter <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/07/20/486758596/trump-speechwriter-accepts-responsibility-for-using-michelle-obamas-words">owning up to the mistake</a>. But was the plagiarism incident simply a case of carelessness, chutzpah or something else? </p>
<p>In any other campaign, this might simply have been a miscalculated attempt at the notorious Lynton Crosby tactic of “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/20/lynton-crosby-and-dead-cat-won-election-conservatives-labour-intellectually-lazy">throwing the dead cat on the table</a>”, deliberately creating a distraction which gets everyone so animated that they forget what it was they were originally supposed to be concentrating on. </p>
<p>That may be giving the chaotic and unsubtle Trump campaign rather too much strategic credit. But the plagiarism farrago did help distract from the fact that shockingly few of the Republicans’ many superstars (or even mid-ranking luminaries) had shown up to the convention at all. </p>
<h2>Steering clear</h2>
<p>The Bush family <a href="uk.businessinsider.com/mitt-romney-bush-trump-rnc-convention-2016-5">were absent</a>, along with former nominees Mitt Romney and John McCain. The only other living Republican to have topped a presidential ticket who attended was Bob Dole, at 90-years-old too frail to make a speech (assuming he wanted to). </p>
<p>Even John Kasich, governor of the crucial battleground state where the convention was held, was nowhere to be seen, instead ending up in a row over whether Trump’s staff offered him a role as the “<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/20/politics/john-kasich-donald-trump-vice-president/index.html">most powerful vice-president in history</a>”. </p>
<p>Many others who did attend clearly haven’t quite drunk the Trump kool-Aid, but were obliged to appear regardless. A case in point is the house speaker and former vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan, a respected and very high-profile GOP figure who has vocally criticised Trump over the last year. </p>
<p>How to take the stage then, and fill 12 minutes of airtime, without sounding utterly hypocritical? By barely acknowledging Trump at all. Ryan made a <a href="http://time.com/4414128/republican-convention-paul-ryan-speech-transcript-video/">decent enough speech</a>, extolling the virtues of his party and its enduring ideas; he mentioned its nominee only twice. </p>
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<p>This atmosphere of mortified avoidance was the subtext for the whole week. That the second day’s news cycle was consumed with Melania Trump’s speech meant little attention was given to her odd prominence as the keynote speaker on a night whose theme was “Make America Safe Again”, topping a bill of actors and reality television stars. </p>
<p>To be sure, there were a couple of war veterans on the stage; Montana Representative <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kixXoLuNC4Q">Ryan Zinke</a> and Arkansas Senator <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/tom-cotton-republican-convention-2016-225466">Tom Cotton</a> both spoke, the latter mentioning the candidate only once. But notwithstanding Rudy Giuliani’s <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-republican-convention-2016-live-rudy-giuliana-s-firey-rnc-speech-you-1468902183-htmlstory.html">rant on the theme of terrorism</a>, by the end of the evening there was still little indication of how a president Trump would make America “safe”. </p>
<p>In fact, the only time in the past year that the candidate has offered any information regarding his foreign policy plans was in his April 2016 speech. Even then, his “America First” theme was heavy on criticism of the current administration. It was significantly lacking in any apparent insight or comprehension of the complexities and challenges that come with the role of being America’s commander-in-chief.</p>
<h2>Living in infamy</h2>
<p>On day two, Trump’s children provided some vital pathos, with 22-year-old <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/07/20/rnc-convention-tiffany-trump-entire-speech.cnn">Tiffany</a> sharing personal anecdotes about the comments her father wrote on school reports. Considering the farce of her stepmother’s appearance, the next generation of Trumps did well enough in their task to humanise the candidate as a family man. </p>
<p>The other speakers continued the slow drip of faint praise. <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/11/get-mitch-mcconnell-099376">Mitch McConnell</a>, the Senate majority leader and hardly a lily-livered compromiser himself, was booed by an audience unimpressed with his earlier lack of support for the candidate. </p>
<p>Probably the most vocal supporter of candidate Trump was New Jersey’s Chris Christie, who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2016/03/02/chris-christies-wordless-screaming/">infamously endorsed Trump</a> after crashing out of the campaign himself. His <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH5bwvsIB30">convention speech</a> was delivered in the style of a court trial against Clinton, requiring full audience participation. It took little to rouse the crowd to chants of “guilty” and “<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/lock-her-up-hillary-clinton/492173/">lock her up</a>”. At best, it sounded like a raucous open-mic standup comedy night; at worst, a shameless effort at poisonous rabble-rousing. </p>
<p>And again, there was no hint of what a president Trump’s policies might be.</p>
<h2>Friends and enemies</h2>
<p>Beyond the high-profile no-shows by many Republican grandees and the early-onset loyalty of VP hopefuls such as Christie, there was a third way for those wondering how to navigate such treacherous waters. Enter Senator Ted Cruz, who delivered a speech without endorsing Trump at all. </p>
<p>Like <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/nelson-rockefellers-last-stand-112072">Nelson Rockefeller’s 1964 convention speech</a>, which was met with jeers when he criticised the uber-conservative nominee, <a href="http://prospect.org/article/trump-conservatism%E2%80%99s-old-guard-sees-new-goldwater">Barry Goldwater</a>, the crowd vociferously heckled Cruz with shouts of “vote for Trump” and “say it!” The telling difference between then and now is that until he dropped out of the primaries, Cruz <em>was</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ted-cruz-not-donald-trump-is-the-scariest-candidate-standing-56529">2016’s Barry Goldwater</a>, and he’s been one of the Senate’s most extreme hardliners. So if he cannot endorse the nominee, then the party has run out of political road.</p>
<p>By the third evening, the convention was running out of time for unity pleas from the podium. In a 72-hour period, the event had lurched from farce to pantomime to something really quite dark: a threatening and belligerent crowd screaming “traitor!” at one of their own. </p>
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<p>And then there was Trump’s chosen running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, who faced the unenviable task of taking the stage after the Cruz debacle. </p>
<p>Certain holders of the vice-presidential role have apocryphally <a href="https://www.cah.utexas.edu/news/press_release.php?press=press_bucket">dismissed it</a> as “not worth a bucket of warm spit”, but now that Trump is formally the nominee and <a href="http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo">has a real chance</a> of winning in November, his choice of future vice-president suddenly seems genuinely meaningful.</p>
<p>To his credit, Pence presented himself as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mike-pence-is-the-anti-trump-62527">not-unhinged social and fiscal conservative</a> that he is. He eulogised candidate Trump as a tough, genuine, charismatic doer, and offered an extensive critique of the Obama administration, specifically the role that Clinton played in it. </p>
<p>And yet, apart from the briefest mention in his closing remarks of Trump’s plans to cut taxes, strengthen borders and grow the economy, there was once again, not a single policy specific. This went over well in the room – but it’s highly dangerous. </p>
<p>In a world all but consumed by violence and uncertainty, many American voters are furious, frightened, and desperate for an alternative to the status quo, and just as the Tea Party movement did, Trump has tapped into some very powerful forces that cannot be ignored. But all he offers is a megaphone for poisonous sentiments, rather than a remedy for the pain and confusion that stirs them. </p>
<p>Ever more akin to a bad reality TV show, the Trump campaign proved once again that it can make a truly deafening noise, but is utterly bereft of substance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clodagh Harrington does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even by the standards of the Trump campaign, the Republican jamboree in Cleveland was a sorry spectacle.Clodagh Harrington, Senior Lecturer in Politics, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/627642016-07-20T02:34:49Z2016-07-20T02:34:49ZMelania Trump’s speech follows a long history of plagiarism in public life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131169/original/image-20160720-7913-twir3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Melania Trump allegedly plagiarised a speech given by Michelle Obama in 2008. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">STF/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Melania Trump’s apparent plagiarism of the speech given by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic Convention reminds us of the importance we continue to ascribe to originality and to authenticity in public life.</p>
<p>At the Republican Convention, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/19/melania-trump-republican-convention-plagiarism-michelle-obama">Melania Trump said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise. That you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily life.</p>
<p>That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son, and we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow, because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.</p>
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<p>Eight years earlier, the words of Michelle Obama were:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them.</p>
<p>And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children - and all children in this nation - to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The unascribed usage of Michelle Obama’s words has been both denied and attributed to someone other than Melania Trump. Sam Clovis, a Trump campaign adviser who has assisted in the drafting of some of his speeches, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/us/politics/melania-trump-speech.html?_r=0">acknowledged</a> in an interview on MSNBC that Melania Trump used words that were not her own:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m sure what happened is the person who was helping write this plucked something in there and probably an unfortunate oversight — and certainly Melania didn’t have anything to do with it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Plagiarism is an emotive and divisive topic. The age of intertextuality and “the Information Age” mean that information is ubiquitously available for processing, repetition, adjusting and reframing by all. </p>
<p>The issue is what this means for unacknowledged secondary use of what others have thought, said or recorded - whether plagiarism still has meaning as a contemporary concept.</p>
<p>A thoughtful perspective <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/22/qr-markham-plagiarism-scandal">contended by literary journalist Stuart Kelly</a> in 2011 is that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the virtual world, the most valuable currency is reality. That would explain why the two things that aggravate the blogosphere most in literary terms are plagiarism and impersonation.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Plagiarism around the world</h2>
<p>The man who is now US Vice President Joe Biden in a law assignment at the Syracuse University College of Law <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/18/us/biden-admits-plagiarism-in-school-but-says-it-was-not-malevolent.html?pagewanted=all">plagiarised five pages from a 15-page article</a> in the 1965 Fordham University Law Review. </p>
<p>He explained himself by saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>My intent was not to deceive anyone. For if it were, I would not have been so blatant.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Put another way, it was an accident – he didn’t mean to do anything wrong. This rationalisation can be termed the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/scholarly-misconduct-9780198755401?cc=au&lang=en&">“Biden defence”</a>. </p>
<p>In 2013, the Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, resigned his position after revelations of his plagiarism. At first, though, he had claimed that the author he plagiarised instead had plagiarised him. Later resiling from this, he then blamed a researcher for what had happened. </p>
<p>Bernheim refused to resign on the basis that to do so would amount to an act of vanity and desertion of office. However, he changed his mind after <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22111313">evidence emerged</a> also about the illegitimacy of his claimed doctoral qualifications, which it turned out he had not completed at the Sorbonne.</p>
<p>In Australia too there have been high-profile casualties of the exposure of plagiarism. </p>
<p>A prominent example was the vice-chancellor of Monash University, David Robinson, who <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/11/1026185088581.html">engaged in wholesale copying of others’ work</a> in the late 1970s and 1980s and had to resign his position in 2002. </p>
<p>A Monash University philosophy professor <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/13/1031608325789.html">reportedly said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Having a plagiarist as head of a university is like having an embezzler running an accounting firm. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In more recent times a series of European politicians have lost their positions after revelations that they engaged in plagiarism in obtaining their postgraduate degrees. </p>
<p>The first in the sequence was Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the German defence minister, who was persuaded to resign in 2011 after it became apparent that his 2006 thesis from the University of Bayreuth was significantly plagiarised. </p>
<p>He had become known as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/01/german-defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism">“the cut and paste minister”</a> and thereby an electoral liability.</p>
<p>Then Silvana Koch-Mehrin, the deputy speaker of the European Parliament, was <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/university-of-heidelberg-finds-koch-mehrin-guilty-of-plagiarism/a-15156485">prevailed upon to resign</a> in 2013 after exposure of plagiarism in her doctoral thesis. </p>
<p>She challenged the deprivation of her doctorate by Heidelberg University in 2013 but failed.</p>
<p>In 2012 the president of Hungary, Pal Schmidt, had his doctorate from Semmelweis University withdrawn on the basis of his plagiarism of a German academic and a Bulgarian sports official. </p>
<p>Over the course of the scandal that ensued he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/world/europe/hungarian-president-pal-schmitt-resigns-amid-plagiarism-scandal.html">resigned the presidency</a>.</p>
<p>The prime minister of Romania, Victor Ponta, was exposed in 2012 as having plagiarised significant parts of his doctoral thesis on the International Criminal Court. </p>
<p>A 13-member ethics commission set up by the University of Bucharest found
he had plagiarised elements on 115 pages of the 297 pages of his thesis. </p>
<p>His conduct became the subject of accusation and counter-accusation in the political process. </p>
<p>By 2014, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-romania-ponta-idUSKBN0JU1N520141216">Ponta had abandoned his doctorate</a> and lost office in Romania’s elections.</p>
<h2>Consequences to political careers</h2>
<p>It is clear then that exposure of unattributed copying of material in the academic domain has had devastating consequences for a number of European politicians. </p>
<p>It has also generated much reflection on the value of intellectual authenticity and integrity. </p>
<p>In many theatres of life, such as registration as a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3121267/">medical practitioner</a> or a <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2010/1927.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=plagiarism">psychologist</a> and admission as a lawyer, plagiarism is regarded as indicative of a person <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2010/108.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=keough">not being fit and proper</a> for a role as a professional, at least for a time. </p>
<p>What then is it about plagiarism that continues to offend community sensibilities?</p>
<p>Essentially, it is that it is a theft of ideas or thoughts without fair attribution of the creator’s work. It is a breach of trust. <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/scholarly-misconduct-9780198755401?cc=au&lang=en&">We invest belief and confidence</a> that what we hear or read is the actual product of the person and is not the result of intellectual dishonesty.</p>
<p>When it turns out to be otherwise, justifiably, we feel cheated and fooled – what seemed real and reliable is not, and we have been deceived. </p>
<p>This matters in the world of academia where scholars’ work should be their own and where there is a particular value accorded to originality – scholarliness that is fresh, which deals fairly with what has come before and which gives fair ascription to the intellectual heritage of ideas.</p>
<p>In the public domain, though, where someone such as Melania Trump gives an address at a high-profile event, we are entitled to believe that when she speaks about herself and her family, she is being straightforward with us and not merely copying and pasting. </p>
<p>The check and balance of Turnitin or Ithenticate – software that detects plagiarism – should not be necessary. </p>
<p>When it turns out that she is simply mouthing the words of another, without telling us so, this goes not just to her integrity but to the mindset that she and others like her have: a preparedness to deceive us and which assumes we will not notice or care, and that they can get away with it. </p>
<p>This is profoundly both dishonest and patronising. It is why, legitimately, we are distressed and angry that what appeared to be authentic and meaningful is not. </p>
<p>Plagiarism in public life is an ugly slight upon the intelligence and the trust of an audience, and it is why it deserves to be condemned vigorously and unapologetically.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Freckelton AO QC does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Plagiarism in public life is an ugly slight upon the intelligence and the trust of an audience.Ian Freckelton AO QC, Professorial Fellow in Law and Psychiatry, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.