Trump's presidential election win and what it says about the future of cancel culture

Former President Donald Trump will be president once again. As that's leaving millions of Americans relieved, it's leaving others perplexed.

Trump lost the presidential race in 2020 after his first term. Many in America, at the time, figured he'd be "canceled" after the Jan. 6 insurrection or in the years that followed as he faced a slew of legal issues and made headline-worthy controversial statements. Trump is a convicted felon who has been accused of sexual misconduct by 19 women; his racially charged rhetoric has been largely panned; and his former chief of staff said Trump spoke positively of Hitler. No matter your political leaning, we can all agree plenty of mainstream figures have been "canceled" over less. But a large swath of the electorate rejected political correctness in favor of promises about the economy and immigration. So is cancel culture itself... well, canceled?

An X user wrote: "This election was a complete rejection of the Democrat party platform in all respects. We are FREE. We must speak out about voting for Trump and what we stand for. No more cancel culture!" "Trump's win already healing the nation, the light is shining down revealing how ridiculous cancel culture is," another added.

Trump's victory may be proof that "cancel culture" was never really there to begin with – and that getting someone to face consequences for their actions is no easy nor attainable feat. Cancel culture almost never cancels anyone – not J.K. Rowling for her unending anti-trans sentiments, nor Louis C.K. for his alleged inappropriate masturbation around women. Even Kanye West is still performing and releasing music. 

"There have always been different rules and expectations for different people, especially powerful and wealthy white men," says Jennifer Billinson, assistant professor and the director of the communication and media program at Nazareth University. "Donald Trump is the poster child for that."

Where did 'cancel culture' come from?

The phrase "cancel culture" has been traced back to the 1980s, in a song by the band Chic. Lyrics reference a breakup and being "canceled" as something that would happen to people in a relationship, according to Ange-Marie Hancock, a professor at The Ohio State University and author of "Intersectionality: An Intellectual History."

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A part of Black culture, the phrase grew to symbolize a particular kind of accountability.

Now, "you'll find it being almost exclusively deployed by people whose political and social preferences are falling out of favor in popular culture, and who are facing consequences for statements that would have been mainstream in, say, the 1990s," says Lara Schwartz, American University senior lecturer and author of "Try to Love the Questions: From Debate to Dialogue in Classrooms and Life."

Social media's rise and a constantly changing barometer for acceptable, appropriate behavior and language was inspiring more "canceling" than ever before – outside of courtrooms and in the court of public opinion. The #MeToo movement of 2017 brought cancel culture to the forefront of our consciousness, but emphatic cancelations are fading.

Online fodder alone may not invoke "permanent cancelations of celebrity figures, much less a political candidate as charismatic and unabashed as Trump," says Melvin Williams, associate professor of communication and media studies at Pace University.

Is 'canceling' over?

Will anyone be "canceled" again? It depends who you ask. Many have decried the "PC police" and cancel culture for years.

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"In the case of President-elect Trump, many disagreed with his statements and actions, but they did not disagree with his character," says psychologist Reneé Carr.

But some think after Trump's second run in office, cancel culture will emerge stronger than ever. One X user wrote: "It's funny how the right thinks that a Trump term is death nail to (wokeism). In reality, it was the post-Trump years that gave birth to cancel culture and the Me-Too movement. Things are about to swing so far to the Left."

Is that the case? Billinson says when it comes to the future of cancel culture, America is divided. "It’s us as a society who decides who needs to make amends and what we are willing to tolerate in terms of words and actions from our leaders. And right now the United States is not at all in agreement about what should be disqualifying."