Navigating Conservatism in Trump's America: How the Penn State College Republicans Construct and Perform Political Discourses and Realities on Campus

This thesis is an ethnographic study of the Penn State College Republicans that attempts to explain how the students understand and perform conservatism as white, middle-class Americans in the midst of Trump's presidency. I argue that the College Republicans find discursive and performative ways to negotiate and define their political outlooks and realities so that they combine classic elements of conservatism but still align with contemporary Trumpian-style politics to a degree. The students rely on particular discursive and performative tactics in order to express their beliefs regarding class-status and privilege, political realities on campus, and feminist social movements in America. I further argue that the College Republicans display their discontent with the changing social and political landscape in America by rejecting political correctness.