Author(s)

Haochang Feng ¹, Liping Tang ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Donghua University, Shanghai, 200051, China

Corresponding Author

Haochang Feng

ABSTRACT

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, has been widely characterized as a racist who unabashedly promoted white supremacist views and repeatedly targeted immigrants and ethnic minorities. During his two terms in office, he enacted numerous racist policies that precipitated a surge of racial tensions across the country. This paper examines the legitimacy of these policies by developing a three‑dimensional analytical framework—value legitimacy, actor legitimacy, and procedural legitimacy—and applying it to an in‑depth evaluation of Trump's racist measures. In terms of value legitimacy, these policies exhibited low efficiency, failed to uphold principles of fairness and justice, exacerbated racial inequality, and undermined the common good. With respect to actor legitimacy, they lacked broad social support during implementation, provoked strong opposition—particularly from minority communities—and destabilized social cohesion. Concerning procedural legitimacy, the policy‑making process was marked by a lack of transparency and public participation, violated the rule‑of‑law principles, and thereby weakened the policies' standing. A comprehensive analysis demonstrates that deficits in all three dimensions of legitimacy deepened societal divisions and polarization in the United States and had adverse effects on both Trump's electoral prospects and governance.

KEYWORDS

Policy Legitimacy; Trump 2.0; Racism; U.S. Politics; Racial Policies

CITE THIS PAPER

Haochang Feng, Liping Tang, Value–Actor–Procedure: An Analysis of the Legitimacy of Racially Discriminatory Policies under the Trump Administration. Journal of Political Science Research (2025) Vol. 6: 121-127. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/DOI: 10.23977/polsr.2025.060117.

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