President Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood star turned politician and he eventually became the quintessential ‘face’ of the Republican party. Bill Clinton played the saxophone on late night T.V., with some believing that his charismatic personality is what helped him to clench the presidency. Today, there’s President Donald Trump. Like him or loathe him, but masters in political science online students are watching his every move with baited breath. He is the first president ever to be elected in the United States who didn’t have at least some previous political experience. Trump amassed most of his followers online, beginning when he was going after then President Obama and accusing him of not being a natural born U.S. citizen. Future candidates and presidencies are undoubtedly going to be impacted by Trump’s current term.
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His Followers Are Loyal – to a Fault
Although he didn’t get the majority vote, Trump secured enough electoral colleges to become the president. That being said, his supporters seem not to be able to find anything wrong with his sometimes inflammatory statements and exclusionary vision for the U.S. A lot of people that voted for Trump the first time around probably wouldn’t vote for him again if there was an election today, but his supporter base is still very strong.
Social Media Is Bigger Than Anyone Ever Thought
Before Trump, Twitter was looking like it might be phased out within the next few years. As social media users appear to be migrating to more video chat and photo based websites, Twitter’s strict 140 character a message rule was coming off as being a little draconian. That is, until Trump used Twitter to send out his message again and again to whoever would take note. Now that he is behind the White House President’s official Twitter account, you can find personalized messages from Trump written and posted at the spur of the moment. Some of these messages have gotten him into hot water, but they also show that news stories can be made from social media.
The Internet Hasn’t Prevented Political Rumors from Surfacing
Most believe believed that once the internet became accessible by average everyday people, there would be no more spread of false or inaccurate information. After all, if accurate information is available by way of an internet search, how could falsehoods persist? Trump seems to take personal issue with what he deems to be ‘fake news,’ but the problem with this is that his cabinet has trouble validating many of his claims and cited statistics. Students studying for an online political science masters degree have studied this phenomenon at great lengths, but the fact of the matter is that people will believe what they think supports their views – even if they know that it is a lie deep down inside.
Political science students couldn’t believe that Trump won the presidency last year. Now that the shock has worn off, people are looking at this as a great learning lesson on what to do in future elections as well as how to maintain the balance of power. Perhaps social media will propel another lesser known political candidate into the spotlight in time for the next presidential election.
