Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Given Donald Trump’s nationalist rhetoric, coupled with certain policies and executive orders that are in line with far-right agendas and political determinants, concepts such as domestic violence and non-state violence become problematic to delineate. Non-state violence has always been so dubbed because of numerous factors chief of which is the State’s attempt to fight such violence and stop it in whichever way it is able. The current situation in the United States is different. While being labeled as domestic, the concept of terror itself is less relevant to study or investigate, as domesticity itself is charged with increasing violence and violent speech. It is in the domestic environment that a fine-line between state politics and wider public response exists. The prevailing domestic violence, this paper argues, while responding to Trump’s rhetoric and current policies, properly dates back to the terror attacks of 9/11. While these did not defeat the United States in military or any other related terms, they punctured what Noam Chomsky called ‘Security of State Power’. The State now conducts levels of surveillance unprecedented in the history of the United States. In a trend that is still ongoing the Obama administration deported 2.5 million people, while the State calls for more arms in everyday civil life, including in schools. The Trump administration expanding state violence to wars on Drugs and Opioids. The current semi-silent racial war in the US is provoked by state policies and executed by non-state violence as the case was in Dayton and El Paso.