Trump sways wildly from extreme to extreme, for example in 2001 in his bibliography he said that all drugs should be made legal, and even as late as April 2011 he was reported to have supported the legalization of all drugs. Only four years later, he stated that he is against the federal legalization of marijuana and all other drugs. It could be a ploy for acceptance within the Republican Party, he used to vote (and donate) Democratic but is now running a Republican campaign. But this is really just another example his inconsistent opinions like this one v.s. this one. Which might be potentially dangerous for the future.
He’s going to win anyway. The candidate who raises the most money always wins, and he doesn’t need to fund raise, or raise money. He had vowed to use his personal fortune to keep running, with 4.5 billion dollars he could buy every American 2 months of chocolate and coffee, plus a bonus 15$ for whatever. If he did nothing else after that, it might make him the best president ever, but that’s not who he is. And that’s not why Americans like him.
America likes Trump. But why?
We like Trump because he is our favourite idiot, and we have a history of presidential idiot savants: Bush, the president we could drink a beer with, Coolridge, “the solution to unemployment is work”, and of course Regan and his monkey. We like our president to be dumb enough to be relatable, and smart enough to dumb himself down for us. We like Trump because, like we want to think we do, he doesn’t care about being politically correct, he doesn’t apologise. We relate to being disliked, or being weirdly outspoken, and to be honest, we dig it.
He’s breaking the laws we like to make fun of, like signing dollar bills, and yelling stuff like our angry old man of a political group, the Tea Party. But he’s fun, he’s surrounded by hot women, he says what he wants, does what he wants, and just short of declaring himself Jesus, is the Kanye West of our political scene. He avoids conversations he doesn’t like, or questions he doesn’t want to answer with answers like “because I don’t want to Greta”. He is the secret toddler inside of us, we want to be that, we like to think we are that, and that we get away with it.
Why he so American?
What is American? America is celebrating military victories behind a moat so big we call it the Atlantic, it’s cheeseburgers as big as your face, to conquer a flat road on an iron beast big enough to swallow your whole family, and it’s a constant fear of anyone who isn’t part of our tribe.
Fear is a powerful motivator for Americans. We like to believe that there is something out there causing all of our problems that we can defeat, rather than believing that we are the only thing standing in the way of our march of progress. It’s why, as our most popular candidate, Trump wants to create jobs, but not address the growing problems of our student loans, which is almost insanity for a first world country. It’s a part of our-defeat-the-enemy, instead of raising-ourselves-up mentality. This is exactly what Fox news caters to. It’s fear-pandering to a large audience, it’s retelling the boogie man story to adults. It’s taken as real and it represents what a large amount American voters think.
That fear of an enemy means we relate to our head tribe member. Clearly Trump has defeated his enemies, he is wealthy, he is not correct, he is himself and still wins. We admire it, we want to be it, and we want him to lead us to it. The same audience that watches Fox News and is worried by the a shrinking control of their majority group are the same people that want Trump. He isn’t politically correct, he is narcissistic, and he is the most American American. He wants hard work to move the nation forward and he is the human embodiment of most American voters. Old (45-64), white, and middle-class.
Mary Grace, an independent liberal from the United States, lives in the beautiful Boise, Idaho, and adores her mountains. She loves skiing, hiking, and repairing vintage bicycles. If you want to chat, or have any questions, feel free to tweet her @marmygrace.
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