ABSTRACT
The final chapter will consider the political legacy of the Trump presidency and explore to what extent the nationalist populist security imaginary has had lasting political effects in the United States, in particular on the institutional integrity of liberal democracy. Summarizing the book’s findings, the chapter will detail the reasons for Donald Trump’s enduring influence over the Republican Party, together with the dominance of Trumpism on the American Right at large, including its ongoing promotion via a right-wing media echo chamber centered on Fox News. At the same time, the chapter will reflect on the strategic continuities between the Trump and Biden administrations, for example, in promoting economic protectionism, a non-interventionist foreign policy stance, and a shared emphasis on long-term competition with China. Finally, the chapter will outline further avenues for applying the populist security imaginary as an analytical framework for comparative research on political rhetoric, voter mobilization, and policy performance in the international system beyond Trumpism and the United States.
