Professor Jeffrey Alexander to deliver the 2026 Annual Jay Blumler Public Lecture

Donald Trump and the Future of American Democracy

In 2016, Donald Trump famously claimed that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” without losing supporters. Ten years on, this remark seemingly still rings true among his core MAGA base. Why has loyalty to Trump persisted for so long, and what does it mean for American democracy?

In this lecture, Professor Jeffrey Alexander examines the social and cultural forces that enabled Trump to build a powerful coalition of devoted followers and occasional allies, what has held this coalition together, and why it has recently begun to fracture - and what all this means for the future of American democracy.

In November, 2024, a majority of American citizens elected Donald Trump to a second term and for months after this second accession continued supporting him. They no longer do. In fact, it seems increasingly likely that, after the mid-term elections in November 2026, the President will be facing impeachment. Yet, even as a majority of Americans have – once again – come to view the President’s decision making as arbitrary and his actions as dangerously authoritarian, he has sustained the support of his MAGA minority.

How we can explain the nature of this loyalty, which is indeed incredible, and its implications for democracy? That is one of the questions I will address in this lecture. Another is why, over the last 10 years, the MAGA minority has twice been joined by non-MAGA conservatives and Independents, a coalition that allowed Trump to be elected and then re-elected, both times fairly and squarely, to the most powerful position in the “free world”? There is a third question I will address as well. How is that Trump’s twice-winning coalition, the hardcore MAGA base and the ambivalent, conservative-cum-Independent center, eventually became unglued – in the middle and later years of his first term and, more recently, in the latter months of year one and the early months of year two of his second term – such that the American civil sphere has been able to be revivified once again?

Jeffrey C. Alexander is the Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Yale University, Founder and Emeritus Director of Yale's Center for Cultural Sociology, and co-editor of the American Journal of Sociology. Among his recent works are Civil Repair (2024), Frontlash/Backlash (2025), "The Civil Sphere in War and Peace: From Athens to Kyiv" (2025), and "Civil Sphere Theory in the Shadow of Authoritarianism" (2026).

Event Information

This is a free public event and all are welcome. The lecture will be followed by a buffet reception and drinks. There is no need to register, but please email Media Research Support (mediaresearchsupport@leeds.ac.uk) if you wish to attend (just so we have an idea of numbers for catering purposes), or for more information.

Livestream

This event will be live-streamed via this link.