Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

St Andrews University professor explains appeal of Trump

President-elect Donald Trump
President-elect Donald Trump

The extraordinary appeal of President Elect Donald Trump has been explained in a prophetic new book co-written by a St Andrews professor.

Professor Stephen Reicher of the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the St Andrews University and Professor S Alexander Haslam of Queensland University argued that it was a mistake to assume Trump supporters were ignorant or irrational.

Indeed the authors suggest that such a viewpoint, akin to characterising Trump voters as “deplorables”, plays directly into the tycoon’s hands.

It exemplifies Trump’s argument that the world is divided into an unaccountable establishment who sneer, exploit and ignore ordinary people, and that he stands outside the establishment on the side of the people.

Trump succeeds by providing a way where his view of the world makes sense to supporters and speaks to them.

They go on to explain that “he establishes himself as a champion and as a voice for people who otherwise feel unchampioned and voiceless”.

In this context, even Trump’s gaffes actually increase his appeal so his crudity, his incivility, even his mistreatment of women establish him as an ordinary guy, warts and all, unlike smooth, polished and dishonest political operators.

With Trump what you see is what you get, the book, which will be published in the New Year, argues.