I've brought this up before. For me Trump's economy has been good. Even during COVID-19, and yes it was good during the last few years of Obama. For several Trump supporters that I know it wasn't. For people who live in rural and ex-urban Minnesota the farm economy took a bad hit. Also for blue collar and unskilled labor wages remained stagnant while costs rose including continuing rise in health care. That is one of the ironies of the Trump economy. Many of those who got the most benefit from the Trump economy were not Trump supporters and those who got the least or were hurt by it were his base.
There's another reason why we haven't seen a lot of Trump supporters leaving him. This is another part of the corrosion of societal norms that will continue with us. Trump's base haven't just supported him but have internalized support him to the point that it is part of their identity. Trump as a master marketer has fed into that with branding. 'MAGA' was a brilliant branding move and goes along with how we see sports teams brand slogans such as "One Mission". The most successful brands are ones that people not only identify with but internalize. It is one thing to do that with sports but in a highly polarized political situation with a leader with pretensions towards authoritarianism this becomes dangerous. It's why we see no the extent of denial or any acknowledgement regarding many things that Trump has done including losing the election as admitting to such would mean admitting that you yourself have lost.
Really wish Biden would go after Trump. He's been so much worse than even Nixon. At least Nixon went away.
The no mask stance and gathering crowds during a raging pandemic has to be 1 of the top 3 on my list. He has turned millions of Americans into selfish Covid spreading killers basically. Even China doesn't do that with their people, but he still blames China. Deny and Deflect! Why in the hell would any leader of any country be so damn reckless and selfish? You look at his mobs of worshippers right now, as this pandemic surges. Over 80% of them do NOT wear masks! It's a deadly game they play, and Trump is to blame. He covers his own as* with waivers, but simply doesn't give a damn how many people will die, or have permanent damage from Covid. The worst part was how he purposely manipulated his followers into choosing to defy experts. He even took it as far as mocking Joe wearing a mask, so his followers would think it was stupid and useless. He bragged about his crowds!! Think about how narcissistic and dangerous that is. It was always a show for him. A platform to be praised. The more the merrier. Trump is as vile as it gets. That's his legacy.
Part of his legacy, under 4 years: Lost the House Lost the Presidency Lost the Senate While he has a fantastic fanbase, losing all three games in a roll means the GOP is going to look for a new horse to pull them. That fanbase is going to make it tough and hellish to move on.
The Guardian's contributor here has no historic perspective... . Politics is war and has always been like this. Twitter flipped the script a bit in how we see it. Nothing more.
The part that student will learn and remember. The big lie and propaganda. Insurrection. Twice impeached. Extra bonus: Socially banned. Finally got his wall. Walls around Congress, the WH, and the Supreme Court to keep his crazy supporters out. Wonder how long these will stay up - that will be a barometer of some semblance of norm.
That's a very shallow view of politics. Further politics isn't war. As Von Clauswitz noted it's the other way around. "War is politics by other means." In other words war comes about when other expressions of politics fail. Not that we start with war.
Politics only becomes war when radical ideas become intractable. What's really shameful is that corporate America supported the radicalization with their ad money, to suit their own agenda of tax breaks and regulation limits. Simply for profit. Boycott Fox advertisers!
the dizzying height of ignoranace Under the Tump presidency, the rich benefitted from the biggest tax cut in US history eg, Alternative Minimum was eliminated One of the biggest tax deductions available to the middle class, SALT deduction, was capped
If you take a really nice car with say 100k miles on it but which was properly maintained and sell it to a new owner who doesn't bother to change the oil and take care of it at all - for a while, yes, it will look like it's running smoothly. Then one day it breaks down and falls apart, and you can say - oh, it was running fine until that one day, or you can be honest and recognize that it was the mismanagement prior to the breakdown that led to the breakdown.
No, MAGA is not why Trump is popular. It's a great slogan that captures the point of what he is trying to do. That's what is smart about it, that it's a catchy dog whistle to everything he stands for - to go back to a time when white culture dominated. That is in fact what Trumpism is about. The dominance of the WASP male. He didn't impose an idea on people who then internalized it - he did something far more insidious. He became the expression of the darkness that was already there. He tapped into people's hate and disgust and used that to manipulate people. He didn't brand a new identify for people, he took what was already internalized and brought it out. What Trump has done is less akin to a sports team's marketing, and more akin to the lengths you can take a person's pride in their city/team to warp their reality. A better example would be the Astros - who despite cheating still have the loyal support of their fans. That's not marketing or branding. That's the inherent flaw of humans. It's like the son who does bad but is excused by the parents. Trump followers love Trump because they see Trump as one of their own. Trumpism is the freeing up of what these people already wanted to believe: that white men and white culture is superior to all others, and it's about time that someone stands up for it and acts like it. Trumpism wasn't born with Trump. It was born with the Tea Party. Trump merely saw the gravy train and jumped on it by starting with birtherism on Twitter no less. He's not a great marketer but a great snake oil salesman.
doubling down on your ignorance. ur talking about the economy ignorant of the simple fact that the largest tax cut in history has a significant impact on the economy. it underscores how ignorant this comment is Trump also started a trade war, much to the detriment of farmers and low income earners intentionally lied about the spread of COVID, which led to the closing / semi-closing of service industries, where many of low income earners work had to issue stimulus checks to help the falling economy the skyrocketing unemployed
Well said, and something I've thought about for a long time now. Trump didn't invent these people, they were always there. He was smart enough to recognize that pandering to them was his road to power. He was also smart enough to recognize that catchy branding and acting virile are perfect aids in selling that message. My fear is that, unless we fix these broken windows, somebody who recognizes this, but is also cognizant of the things that lead to Trump's demise, will cater to this demographic, but with lipstick on. This is why shitheads like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley are so dangerous, and must be dealt with immediately.
