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Nietzsche, Trump, and the American Far Right

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The Perils of Populism

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Abstract

This chapter discusses Donald Trump and the American far right from the perspective of Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy, which is the inspiration for right-wing ideologists behind Trump’s ideology and politics. Trump adopts Nietzsche’s perspectivism, the morality of ressentiment, and the search for superman. These elements of Nietzsche are the basis of ultra-Conservative political ideology in America and Republican politics. Their use of Nietzsche requires analysis. To what extent do far-right ideology and Trump abuse the thought of Nietzsche as a political philosopher? Is it correct to say that Nietzsche was a radical conservative? Finally, it is important to demonstrate that Nietzsche’s philosophy differs from Trump’s political ideology.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/donald-trump-1970s

  2. 2.

    https://time.com/5928282/donald-trump-time-covers/

  3. 3.

    https://www.trump.com/leadership/donald-j-trump-biography

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Jacob Dahl Rendtorff

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  1. Jacob Dahl Rendtorff
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Correspondence to Jacob Dahl Rendtorff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. IR Globe Cross-Cultural Inc, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Adebowale Akande

Additional information

Many thanks to the anonymous for copyediting/overhaul and to Dr. Adebowale Akande for his professorial editorial assistance.

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Rendtorff, J.D. (2023). Nietzsche, Trump, and the American Far Right. In: Akande, A. (eds) The Perils of Populism. Springer Studies on Populism, Identity Politics and Social Justice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36343-6_15

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