Several millions of people cannot accept Donald Trump's historic victory of November 9th, 2016. Rightly so those sectors of humanity which felt offended by Trump’s injurious comments ought to be concerned. However, the scope of the reflections in this short article are not to go into the moral values of Trump but to assess his distinct political strategy, now widely known as ‘Trumpism’. Most probably, several politicians do not like Trump because they fear that by time he would prove them wrong (to say the least) in their seemingly ‘honest’ political methodologies.

Trump is certainly different from the politicians we know. What makes Trump so distinct as to win all those voters? Why is Trump a winner? By applying some comparative and critical thinking, two broad considerations can be identified that could shed answers to this research question.

Trump’s distinct strategy

1. First consideration: Trump was not hesitant to state his personal views and beliefs and to propose drastic positions or measures. Other politicians would support every issue - even contrasting ones (like nature conservation as opposed to hunting; or embryo protection with respect to IVF freezing as opposed to the 'easy' availability of morningafter pills, to mention a few) - thus looking nice with practically every sector of society. Therefore, whether you agree with Trump's extreme ideas or not, it remains a fact that Trump has openly stated his views (or principles - call them whatever you like) without any fears. In other words, Trump's success is based on "I am what you see"; no masks, no sweet words, no inhibitions but sheer, raw transparency. At least, that is how he portrayed himself.

2. Further consideration: Trump is sending a message to the world that there is a limit to where one can arrive with diplomacy and partnership agreements. It seems that lip service alone is not working on issues that are extremely popular and of public concern on the social media like uncontrolled immigration, ISIS terror and North Korean threats. Although for many critics Trump has no visionary foreign policy, Trump is showing - or at least that is what he showed in his pre-election campaign - that he has got the guts to do it! For example, can illegal immigration be halted? Of course it can; in his candidacy announcement speeches, Trump proposed the idea of building a wall along America’s southern border [1]. As for Islamic terrorism, Trump wants to pursue aggressive joint military operations to crush and destroy ISIS [2]. Furthermore, in an interview with the New York Times he also suggested that he would support Japan and South Korea in developing their own nuclear arsenals [3]. Nobody enjoys wars and everyone hopefully prefers peace but there are circumstances in life when drastic action eventually and unfortunately has to be taken.

Since time immemorial, mankind always wanted warriors to rule and protect them. For example, despite that Jesus Christ was never afraid to take a stand in public and there were many instances when the Savior scorned the wealthy in support of the marginalized, the Jewish people are, until this day, expecting their ‘Messiah’ as a political ruler and a King, who would reign over Israel forever [4]. Moreover, the New Testament is not accepted as part of their Bible.

Reliability

Some critics, whether they like it or not, also share the same thoughts regarding Trumps’ strategy that led to his success and these reflections should serve as further basis to realize that many conventional politicians are playing their political ‘games’ and people believe them. Let us consider two quotes from the comments of Moore [5] and apply them to the two considerations that have already been highlighted on Trump’s success:

Quote 1: “She (Clinton) represents the old way of politics, not really believing in anything other than what can get you elected. That’s why she fights against gays getting married one moment, and the next she’s officiating a gay marriage.” This tallies with the first consideration on Trump’s victory.

Quote 2: “We have to vote for Trump. We HAVE to shake things up.” This corresponds with the second consideration.

Therefore, it remains undisputable that Trump has sent a global message that he is different from most of the politicians we know. It is for this reason that the phenomenon of Trumpism has to be studied by experts in the field of politics. Even if Trump only got one third of the electorate, Trumpism would still be significant and has to be analyzed. This commentary can serve as a platform for thorough academic research on Trumpism.

Opinionists, instead of delving into the real causes which led to nearly sixty-two million Americans who voted in favour of Trump, are making comparisons with Brexit – Britain’s historic referendum of June 23, 2016 to exit from the European Union. Time will tell whether Brexit meets Trumpism [6] or whether Brexit and Trumpism are different ‘beasts’ [7]. What matters for the scope of this short article is that experts in politics should analyze without delay the needs of the people as reflected in their votes for Trump, which needs are probably also similar to British citizens and other nations.

A survey on a naturalistic, purposeful sample of the US-Trump population followed by a number of focus group meetings can tell whether Trump was elected by default (quite unlikely) or because people really like/d his radical ideologies. Therefore, as an interpretative theory can be built from the emerging data, a new, theoretical sample is selected to examine the phenomenon of Trumpism into further depth.

Whether Trump remains consistent and trustworthy is doubtful because soon after he was elected as the 45th President of the USA, he started moderating his talk. However, to acknowledge Trump’s unique elements that led to his victory does not necessarily mean that one is supporting his ideologies. Let us forget Trump’s past and, as Clinton said, give him a chance. Time will tell whether Trump’s radical ideas that contributed to his electoral win (apart from his wealth which was also instrumental in his journey for the White House) will be fair and that they would work in practice. We should also remember that whereas practically all political leaders around the world were, until the eve of the election, pro-Clinton, now they have congratulated Trump. So, let us officially recognize Trumpism and see why people in America and perhaps internationally want this revolutionary politics of drastic change to reign. Let's hope for the best…