Will it work again? I do understand why he appealed to his "common man" voters, he promised them what they wanted to hear. Now that he's had 4 years of very questionable (to say the least, not even taking COVID-19 into account) results....
I think the underlying issue is feeling a loss of power, being a white male does not give you the advantage that it once did, monetarily romantically or socially. Also white males are being asked to look in the mirror, the whole topic of white guilt and white privilege struck a cord and then the democratic party started building on these issues and making them mainstream, Trump was the perfect release valve and kind of the last gasp of patriarchy. Nobody likes to have the finger pointed at them and I can understand the backlash and how Trump was elected but I cannot figure out hownhe has continued to have most of the same support that part is puzzling.
Illegal immigrant and anti-China is where we get support outside of his typical base. He can be a shegoat and still get support if he speaks to their values.
Returning to this idea that Trump support is somehow paradoxical because he doesn't live up to people's purported values, the one that really upset me was the way white evangelicals betrayed everything they said they were about to vote for him. If Trump is the most unmanly president, he's also the most ungodly.
Trump promotes claim Jewish Israelis love him like he is ‘King of Israel and second coming of God’ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-latest-jewish-antisemitism-king-of-israel-twitter-democrats-a9072951.html
This article breaks down some of the research and hypotheses into this question (in a broad sense). https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds
Don't go all Jr Falwell or Jr Graham on us now. And no, I will not give you my credit card #, no matter how bad Jesus wants it.
That's because those aren't their real values. Their real values are about white heterosexual patriarchal dominance - they fear people different from them. They relate to Trump because Trump also has that fear. Trump doesn't like foreigners, thinks Europeans are snobs, doesn't like educated people, doesn't like scientists, looks down on minorities, and looks down on progress. That's their values. That's what makes them feel safe and comfortable, and that's why the love him.
I agree with you and Sweet Lou. A lot of Trump's support among the demographic in question is that they feel he is fighting for him. In discussions with these people I've gotten them to agree with many of the criticisms of Trump including many raised by Nichols in his piece. They come back to that they view Liberals as evil and they will keep on supporting him because he is fighting Liberals. It is very tribal..
I bet if someone who looked like that showed up at the border he would probably be detained or turned away.
He's also turning our allies against us. Europe is abandoning Trump on the world stage as it turns away from the US toward China https://www.businessinsider.com/eur...avirus-world-stage-turns-towards-china-2020-5
I think it would be an insult to women to call him feminine. Maybe just insecure as hell so he has to constantly display toxic masculinity and live in an alternate reality where his fake image he tries to create is the exact opposite of what he should be, look like, act like etc. to escape who he really is... ...which is fat, pale, balding, nonathletic, old guy with no real friends, a wife who probably hasn’t slept with him in years, and a father who couldn’t stand him so he sent him away when he was a child to boarding school. Oddly enough there are plenty of men just like him (minus the no real friends but some that feel lonely of course) in reality who are perfectly good men who people love like crazy. But Donald just can’t fathom the fact that he in reality is nothing special in life and has had to create this character because he never could cope with his daddy issues. I think that pretty much sums it up. Unmanly is a good way of saying that being a man is owning who you are and being confident with it and doing what you can to take care of those you love and live a good life. Imagine how much different our world would be if Fred Trump would have been a real father to his son? So tonight to all you dads out there, go hug your kid and tell them you love them so they don’t grow up and destroy the world.
America, really, much of the West, is starving for masculinity. It's starving for a man. It's no wonder that the Jordan documentary made him even more popular. It showed everyone an example of a man that many, many people are missing nowadays. From fatherless homes to "men" who increasingly act like women. We are being told that there are little differences between the sexes. We all KNOW that there are so when a person like Trump comes around we are forcibly divided. Some people are attracted to men like him and some are repelled by him. Forget the past. Remembering is a mostly female trait. Men live in the now. Even so, many who believe Trump was immoral also believe he has repented. Some don't believe that he did the things he's accused of doing. Can you blame them? He hasn't received any negative consequences. The opposite happened. NBC gave him a show and the people loved it and loved him. Twitter gave him a platform to reach everyone and he's probably its biggest follow. America gave him the presidency. If he's so bad, why did all of these good things happen to him? On the lying, Trump comes across as an honest man despite his lies. He is like Tony Montana in that way: "I always tell the truth, even when I lie." You know where he stands even through his lies. His statements, true or not, will always support his stances. Actually, Trump is a lot like Tony Montana. The bad guy. He's the guy we need to point our fingers at and say, he's the bad guy, he's the reason America is [BLANK], even now, he's the reason there are 100k dead Americans. Either way, both give off masculine energy that is attractive to ALL of us whether it's good or vile. With all that said, Trump wouldn't be POTUS if he wasn't a republican. Having that label gives you most of the votes you need to become president. Him being this or that isn't relevant to people who vote for idealogy not personality. That worked in both candidate's favor in 2016 and will again this November. Still, his masculinity was ultimately positive and is definitely a factor in his election and presidency. In this climate, where any display of masculinity is toxic, it is also a reason why people will hate him in an irrational way that usually a woman would hate a man. The writer used that energy to write this hit piece on Trump and masculinity, but he has an incorrect view of masculinity. Trump is definitely not the best example of a man, but, just like Scarface, he is a man nonetheless. Where he falls short in the present, to me, is that he seems to genuinely hate his opponents. Real men don't hate, they love everyone, even their enemies. Trump also has a hard time accepting correction. Correction gives one the opportunity for growth and Trump would prefer to stay dumb and ignorant. Where he does act in a sense "honorable" is in the way he stands up for what he believes is right. Whether you agree with him is another story, but the fact that he does not back down from his beliefs is manly. He also fights back. A lot of y'all think he should just take it when reporters are obviously asking antagonistic -nasty- questions, but he is correct in calling them out. When he called out Pelosi when she said she prays for him was also an example of him fighting back. His Twitter beefs are unnecessary because they are public, but again, they are just another example of him fighting back against his opponents.
Just my 2 cents on Jordan since you brought him up and find him such an interesting character: I already knew most everything about him but the documentary was a good character study on the myth of masculinity in a lot of ways. Jordan comes off as someone who lacks a lot of the human traits we all want in our kids, friends, spouses, etc. The exterior he put around himself and really still does at times was viewed on the outside as a positive trait because winning was viewed as the ultimate goal when in reality winning is nothing without having people you love to share it with. I don’t know if MJ fully had an arc but he sure as hell showed he is human after all with moments like the death of his father, his relationship with his security guard, etc. It’s hard to see because he’s still Jordan but you definitely see a change in the way he has this desire to rest from the rigors of what he did, and I think a lot of it was emotional fatigue from putting that shell around himself. There is literally nothing human at all about Trump and he’s not even a real winner like Jordan is. Jordan is the real deal for better or worse. There is literally nothing real about Trump other than how disturbingly broken he really is.
He is white heterosexual (predator) Male That is all they care about Nothing else matters. Rocket River
