Reading this moved me from despair to determination. Those who believe in these values, which Trump rejected, need to understand what happened \u2014\u00a0to fight it, to stop it and to prevent it from happening again.<\/p>\n
A victory of communication<\/strong><\/p>\n That is why we must understand Trump\u2019s election as a victory of communication. No, not of the ethical variety championed by the world\u2019s public relations professional associations, but a dark art of deception and distortion, one that skilfully exploits the weaknesses of the 21st century media landscape.<\/p>\n Despite being the oldest person ever elected United States president, Trump was born for the social media age. He intuitively understands the power of disintermediation that allowed him to speak directly to a vast audience, dutifully amplified by the mass media. He subtly signals the dark extremes of society, while understanding that mainstream citizens live in\u00a0filter bubbles<\/a>,\u00a0in which we each choose our own news and, dangerously, our own facts. Here\u2019s a typical exchange I experienced (note the user\u2019s ironic Twitter name):<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at the six most dangerous strategies and tactics in the Trump playbook.<\/p>\n 1. Gaslighting<\/strong><\/p>\n Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse in which a victim is manipulated into doubting their own memory, perception, and sanity. Here is how the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u2019s\u00a0Ben Terris\u00a0applies it to the election<\/a>: Never mind that the\u00a0<\/em>political press<\/em><\/a>, along with many others, had watched the Republican nominee say all these things in the preceding weeks and months, and it was all on tape. Trump\u2019s running mate used \u201cpolish and confidence,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>wrote<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Jamelle Bouie in <\/em>Slate, \u201cto deny Trump\u2019s rhetoric and behavior and gaslight the country that has borne witness to them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n 2. Defamation<\/strong><\/p>\n The level of defamation in this election was shocking. Trump excelled at it, persuading millions of Americans that Clinton had committed a crime, despite the absence of credible evidence or charges, let alone proof. He knew that his opponent was unlikely to resort to legal channels, which move too slowly for the internet age and would risk keeping the allegations in the news.<\/p>\n 3. \u201cOtherization\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n This is a favourite of many demagogues \u2014 from 20th century fascists and communists to 21st century authoritarian populists \u2014 blame an \u201cother\u2019\u201d for an economic or social ill. Trump was fond of this strategy, as he targeted African Americans, Latinos, Muslims and women, to list but a few.<\/p>\n Many of Trump\u2019s comments in this vein were overt, such as those demeaning women and branding Mexican immigrants as rapists and Muslims as terrorists. Others were covert \u2014\u00a0so-called dog-whistle politics. Some were perhaps subconscious.<\/p>\n Many dismissed Trump\u2019s darkly brilliant slogan \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d as a typically laughable con job. But for many white men lacking education and prospects, it called to mind a comforting past \u2014\u00a0one that was anything but great for minorities. At other times, Trump\u2019s social posts revealed his innate bigotry:<\/p>\n 4. Media intimidation<\/strong><\/p>\n A power user of Twitter, Trump took full advantage of the reality that in the social media, to quote David Remnick, \u201carticles in the traditional fact-based press look the same as articles from the conspiratorial alt-right media.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s relentless narrative about the \u201crigged media\u201d was chillingly effective. He roused his supporters to near-violence against reporters at rallies, and then looked the other way as White supremacist groups targeted reporters and their families with horrifying threats.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s rigged media narrative also forced editors and reporters everywhere to bend over backwards and show balance. The result: no topic in the election received more attention than Hillary Clinton\u2019s use of a private e-mail server when she was secretary of state \u2014 a minor transgression by any objective measure when compared with Trump\u2019s misbehaviour.<\/p>\n 5. Lack of transparency<\/strong><\/p>\n I once thought no one could get elected to the American presidency without revealing his or her tax returns, to confirm their bona fides and to avoid conflicts of interest. I was wrong. Voters let Trump off the hook entirely in this regard, and he managed to get through the campaign without meeting this basic test of transparency.<\/p>\n The one blessing in the social media age is that transparency is sometimes forced upon a newsmaker, as Trump discovered at the low point of his campaign \u2014 the release of the\u00a0Access Hollywood video<\/a>\u00a0in which he bragged about sexually assaulting women. And that brings us to\u2026<\/p>\n 6. The fake apology<\/strong><\/p>\n Trump is not known for admitting errors, let alone apologizing. The release of the video of his shocking comments about women\u00a0forced him to apologize<\/a>. His first words reminded me of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford\u2019s, when he said:\u00a0\u201c<\/em>I never said I\u2019m a perfect person\u2026\u201d\u00a0(as if that was the standard to which he was being held).<\/p>\n In the video, having said just enough to generate headlines stating he had apologized, Trump segues into attacks on Hillary and Bill Clinton. The effect is to nullify the apology entirely. After all, rancour is not remorse, and apologies should not be attacks. This type of non-apology actually compounds the wrong-doing. It prevents restoration and halts healing.<\/p>\n A democratic imperative<\/strong><\/p>\n Here are the questions we must ask: How could this happen? How can we stop it from happening again?<\/p>\n In a speech on the evening before the election, President Barack Obama noted that the social media \u201cmagnifies our divisions and muddies up the facts.\u201d As the politician who pioneered the use of the social media as a campaign tool in 2008, Obama understands the its virtues \u2014\u00a0and its dangers.<\/p>\n \u201cA week is a long time in politics.\u201d\u00a0This adage predates social media \u2014 in today\u2019s age of information overload, of short memories and attention spans, of transient celebrity and instant gratification, a week is an eternity. The disgraced candidate of October becomes the victor of November.<\/p>\n In these times vigilance is required more than ever before, and this is not easy for voters, who are often complacent about the durability of their democracy and unaware of the fragility of their freedoms.<\/p>\n I hope Trump confounds expectations and unifies the nation. Regardless of what happens during the Trump presidency, however, the lessons from this campaign are grim but clear: only when we understand how communication can be used for division can we aspire to see it used for hope, healing and harmony.<\/p>\n Photo:\u00a0a katz<\/a> \/ Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n This article is part of The US Presidential Election<\/a> special feature.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options\u00a0discussion, and send in your own submission.\u00a0Here is a\u00a0<\/em>link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on how to do it. <\/em>|\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ? <\/em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces\u00a0<\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Like several billion other people, I awoke the day after the US election trying to make sense of the election of Donald Trump as the leader of Canada\u2019s powerful southern neighbour. Even at a time of severe economic anxiety, why did 59 million Americans choose a candidate who has so deeply divided the nation? The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":237530,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-08-30T05:38:49Z","apple_news_api_id":"35d0762a-2fe7-46b5-80d8-de914e347bfa","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-08-30T05:38:49Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ANdB2Ki_nRrWA2N6RTjR7-g","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9360,9358,9372],"tags":[8476],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4217,4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7189],"class_list":["post-264536","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-politique","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-us-politics-fr","irpp-category-affaires-internationales","irpp-category-politique","irpp-tag-etats-unis"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"trump1\"](\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Trump1.jpg\")
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\nReporters and political junkies experienced this in a collective way during the vice-presidential debate in October, when Gov. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Trump\u2019s running mate,\u00a0<\/em>shook<\/em><\/a>\u00a0his head \u201cno\u201d to the charge that Trump had\u00a0<\/em>praised<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/a>Vladimir Putin. He denied that Trump had\u00a0<\/em>suggested<\/em><\/a>\u00a0more nations get nuclear weapons, that Trump had\u00a0<\/em>proposed<\/em><\/a>\u00a0a \u201cdeportation force\u201d to go after undocumented immigrants, and that Trump wanted to\u00a0<\/em>punish<\/em><\/a>\u00a0women for having abortions.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"trump2\"](\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Trump2.jpg\")
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