North by Northwestern

Year in Media 2015

Summer of Trump

by Samuel Niiro

That was then. Half a year later, we are well into the long, dark winter of Trump.

Ah, the summer of Trump. Who doesn’t miss those halcyon days, when Trump’s suggestion that we build a giant wall to keep out Mexican immigrants was something the media could play off as comically awful or just exasperatingly stupid? Back when our biggest concern with him was his fascinating hair? Before those times when Trump’s supporters assaulted a homeless man or attacked a Black Lives Matter protester?

Let’s back up. Donald Trump, best known as a real estate mogul and reality TV star, officially launched his presidential campaign on June 16. Initially dismissed as a vanity run, Trump’s campaign started out with a strong wave of anti-immigrant and anti-Latina/o rhetoric that garnered an immediate backlash. Analysts initially suggested that Trump had no chance of winning, but as Trump consistently performed well in polls, it became clear that he was sticking around, at least for a couple months.

It’s unclear who first named it the summer of Trump. A quick Google search indicates it might have been Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass in an article where he attributes a possible Jeb/Hillary matchup to “this summer of Trump, and the dance of the meat puppets” (a horrifying image, to be sure). Regardless, the term was widespread by the end of July, when the Washington Post declared we were all “living in the summer of Trump.”

That was then. Half a year later, we are well into the long, dark winter of Trump. After comments calling for surveillance of mosques and vague insinuations he might be comfortable making a database of American Muslims, Trump made his Islamophobic plans concrete when he called for a total ban on Muslim immigration to the United States. This seems to have finally crossed the line, drawing immediate criticism from party leaders and mainstream media, and sparking a conversation as to whether or not Trump qualifies as fascist.

It’s too soon for this latest policy announcement to be discerned in his polling, so it’s unclear how long this season of Trump will last. The comments on Muslims may have finally ended his run, or his base might not care at all. It doesn’t seem too likely that 2016 will have a summer of Trump, but then again, that’s what we all said about 2015.

Movies

Inside Out

Movies

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Television

The Daily Show