TikTok: The Rising Tide of a Teenage Social Movement

On June 15th President Donald Trump tweeted “Almost One Million people request tickets for the Saturday Night Rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma!”. Yet on the night of the rally, June 20th, numbers revealed the actual attendance of approximately 6,200 scanned ticket holders at a venue able to hold 19,000. The massive discrepancy between registered ticket requests and individuals in attendance initially baffled the Trump campaign and many onlookers; however, TikTok users were not surprised. In the days leading up to the event TikTok users moved collectively to reserve thousands of tickets in a no-show protest. This plan, well executed and unanticipated by party and election officials, represents more than a one-off event. Many participants were teenagers, still unable to vote in the upcoming November election, who are seeking ways to make their political concerns heard without the ability to cast a ballot. The availability of social media networks has opened doors for cooperation and collaboration among young citizens of the United States that has been unheard of previously. This evolution calls for a reevaluation of how political organizations and movements are evolving in the United States, and whether they meet the needs of a rising generation seeking to have their voice be heard.

In 1992 Gerald Pomper published an article entitled Concepts of Political Parties, attempting to examine models and political parties based on three criteria: a focus on either elite or mass populations, collective or coalitional goals, and an instrumental or expressive mode. Focus refers to the population being served by the group, either a smaller group of elites or the public masses. Collective goals indicate those that require united action and provide benefits for everyone involved, while coalitional goals need concerted effort with rewards that are typically applicable only for those within the coalition. An instrumental mode is rational and calculable, including features such as paid employees or tangible benefits to participation. Expressive mode groups offer mostly intangible benefits focusing on strong internal solidarity, ideological agreement, and a sense of community.

Pomper categorized both major political parties in the United States today as bureaucratic organizations with elite focus, coalitional goals, and an instrumental mode. He wrote that “this concept seems increasingly applicable to the United States as the national parties develop professional staffs, large financial resources and technical expertise” (p. 151). Both the Republican and Democratic parties, and the campaigns they assist in running, have adapted formal structure and a full-time staff with tangible benefits for voters, such as the closed Republican primary. By contrast, the work of TikTok activists culminated in what Pomper would classify as a social movement: a body of people with mass focus, collective goals, and an expressive mode. Far less formal, the online leaders of the Tulsa no-show protest aimed to reach the masses through their demonstration with intangible emotional rewards for their actions. This approach to registering concern with President Trump’s re-election campaign has multi-faceted implications.

Organizers cited both ideological and structural reasons for participating in the no-show protest. The policy priorities and previous track record of the President has left individuals across the political spectrum feeling misrepresented, frustrated, or unsafe under the current administration. In addition, the Trump re-election campaign strategy revolves strongly around in person rallies in the midst of a pandemic. In the three weeks after Trump’s rally in Tulsa, which was held even after locals expressed concern about the safety of such a gathering, Oklahoma reported a record high in positive COVID-19 cases. For a variety of reasons, the bureaucratic model of political involvement is not working for Generation Z, which hold significant future implications for politicians with significantly different ideologies and political institutions with more traditional models of operation.

As Generation Z begins to vote in this and future elections, both politicians and parties will need to be prepared to adapt to and appropriately address a population favoring a social movement structure to politics. Younger Americans tend to be more collaborative, invest more in collective goals, seek mass involvement and representation, and connect deeply to their ideological beliefs even as many struggle to identify with a political party. The long term implications remain to be seen, but even now the immediate results of the Tulsa no-show protest are beginning to ripple through this presidential election: President Trump’s scheduled rally in New Hampshire on July 11, 2020 was postponed due to concerns of inclement weather and campaign worries about low turnout.