On trying to intellectually legitimise Donald Trump

For a long time after the Second World War, a so-called "Conservative Consensus" existed in the USA. This alliance, forged by anti-communists, traditionalists and conservative evangelicals, among others, represents socially conservative values combined with a liberal economic policy. Donald Trump and some intellectuals like Michael Anton broke with this consensus. The latter tried to place Trump in the tradition of thought of the German-born philosopher Leo Strauss in a much-noticed essay. In her paper entitled "Strauss-a-Lago: Branding Trumpism as a Conservative Alternative," the HSG expert on American politics and culture, Prof. Dr. Claudia Franziska Brühwiler, traced and analyzed this intellectual legitimization strategy. For her work, she was awarded the Walter Enggist Research Prize of the Canton of Thurgau.