ABSTRACT
Politics has always been, to one degree or another, a struggle over whose life "matters". But lately, especially with the turn toward issues of group identity, this struggle has intensified. The struggle over whose life matters is a struggle over who is worthy of being the object of an emotional investment, who is cared about, who is loved, but also who is hated. Because people only matter when others take notice of what is unique or personal about them, there is something inherently exclusionary in their need to matter. For this reason, the need to matter is not fulfilled by recognition of rights. This aspect of the power to make someone matter is well represented in Trump's preoccupation with deal making, which is, for him, a zero-sum game: only the winners matter, so to matter means to win. When Trump speaks to his supporters, he speaks to himself.
