Presidential Nodes
In class this semester, we have been learning about various aspects of nodes in a network, and one characteristic that nodes possess is how embedded they are within their specific network. Nodes have positive and negative relations with each other; however if a node is more deeply embedded in the network, it is more aggressively incentivized to cooperate with the other nodes and to have positive relations. These nodes with more common connections within a network are held to a higher standard because they have more at stake by damaging relationships. Nodes that are not deeply embedded, however, have much less riding on their relationships with nodes within the network; therefore they are able to act in a riskier fashion which causes them to stand out and eventually attract attention from the outside thus allowing them to differentiate themselves. In short, this risk can lead to a reward.
This brings me to the current US presidential election in which a politician who is deeply embedded in the political system of our country (Hillary Clinton) battles an estranged businessman who decided one day to “make America great again” by ousting seasoned politicians from the White House. If you had asked me a year ago who would be the Republican nominee for president, my mind would go nowhere near Trump. Perhaps Paul Ryan, maybe Marco Rubio, who knows, maybe even Jeb Bush would have been options, but the idea of Donald Trump would have been absurd. But now here we are, less than two months away from the election, and he’s going to be on the ballot.
In the New York Times Opinion section, there is a piece entitled “And Then There Was Trump” which outlines Trump’s unconventional journey to where he is now and how Democrats should handle a candidate who is so controversial and has gained support from a wide variety of constituents. The author speaks to how Hillary Clinton will need to gain votes by differentiating herself more from Obama. Because the Democratic Party is currently in power and Clinton is deeply embedded within the party, it is challenging for her to get outside of the party and attract other voters, and she is very heavily scrutinized for a single situation that occurred when she was Secretary of State. Trump, on the other hand, has a tie to the Republican Party; however his bigotry and his unconventional ideas allow him to gain support from pariahs and members of society who before could not really relate to one of the conventional presidential candidates. Because Trump is not deeply embedded into the American political system, he is able to make risky moves and say things that can be construed as uncouth, and I guess we’ll see in November if these risks lead to a reward.
Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/opinion/campaign-stops/and-then-there-was-trump.html