In Donald J. Trump and the Politics of Mass Society, Albert P. Melone studies Trump’s behavioral patterns in the fourth year of his presidential term and the three tumultuous years leading to the 2024 presidential election year. In 15 chapters, Melone analyzes the leading explanatory paradigm of American government and politics by utilizing the democratic and aristocratic criticisms of mass society theory to better describe and explain the behavior of Donald Trump and his followers. The initial chapters outline the theoretical framework, the mass movement characteristics, and its membership’s cult-like behavior. Two significant events of the last year of Trump’s administration— the pandemic and the politics surrounding the Black Lives Matter demonstrations— illustrate Trump’s leadership style and the behavioral patterns of the MAGA mass movement. The 2020 election and the attempt to reverse its outcome is a central topic throughout the text, including a discussion of Trump’s second impeachment, the efforts of the House Select Committee on January 6th, voter reactions in the 2022 midterm elections, and the various political and legal attempts to make Trump accountable for his role in the so-called insurrection at the nation’s Capitol. In the final chapter, Melone critically analyzes alternative prescriptions to right the ship of state with a steely eye focused on the realities and possibilities to salvage the democratic republic from an autocratic future.
