Coming to grips with the popularity of Donald Trump
He is both extremely unpopular and extremely popular. Schrodinger's populist!
Do not take this to mean that these people are the majority, but to me, the biggest takeaway from this year’s election is this: A lot of people really like Donald Trump. It’s not that they like his policies or that they put up with him because they can get the judicial appointments they want. It’s him. They like him. They want him to be the President of the United States.
Back in 2016, it was easy to come up with reasons that someone might vote for Trump without liking him much. It was a vote against Hillary, who had been one of the most vilified people in the country for a quarter of a century. They thought he wouldn’t be that bad, wouldn’t be as crazy as he seemed, wouldn’t continue to embarrass himself when he felt the full weight of his new office.
In 2020, that’s all fallen apart. None of the conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden ever took root with anyone not already in the tank for Trump, and we have four years of evidence that Trump is that bad, is as crazy as he seemed, is continuing to embarrass himself, and (here’s an extra one!) at no point has he felt the full weight of his office. He shitposts on Twitter just as if he were Donald Trump, Asshole Businessman instead of Donald Trump, American President. There is no more there. There is exactly what we’ve seen, and a lot of America likes it.
Trump, as of midnight Pacific time, has a little over 68 million votes (Biden is beating him handily in that category with 71 million, but that’s not relevant in literally any way at all because this is America, baby). Four years ago, Trump got 63 million votes. That’s 5 million more Trump voters this year than in 2016. Trump personally expanded the Republican electorate by 5 million voters.
Donald Trump did not turn out an anti-Biden vote. He also did not turn out a pro-any Republican vote. He turned out a pro-Trump vote.
This is what Republicans in America like. They like that he ignores or belittles experts who make him look bad, like Dr. Fauci. They like that he calls the coronavirus the “kung flu.” They like the shitposting. They like that he breaks federal law to hire his family and do campaign events from the White House. They like that he cozies up to Putin and Kim Jong-un. They like that he doesn’t care if a single non-Trump in America lives or dies. All of these things own the libs, and therefore Republicans like them.
(For the record, he only cares if most Trumps live or die because if Don Jr drowned in a jet skiing accident or something, it would make Donald Trump look bad)
Donald Trump got excellent turnout from people who wanted to vote for Donald Trump. They looked at the last four years and were good with it. They saw the rise of organized white supremacy, and children being separated from their parents and put in cages, and the destruction of environmental regulations, and the attempt to take healthcare away from millions with no plan to replace it, and the worst response in the world to a global pandemic, and an absolute failure to take a single shred of responsibility for anything bad that’s happened, and said, “Yep, that’s my guy.”
I am, it turns out, simply baffled by the support that Donald Trump gets. It is unthinkable to me that anyone would change the TV channel to see him speak and not only not immediately turn it off, but eventually vote for him. Four and a half years ago, I transcribed a speech he gave in Rochester, New York on April 10, 2016 where he said the following things (among others):
On Ted Cruz: "I've met a lot tougher people than him over the years, but I've never met anybody that could lie like him."
"If I get elected, Rochester is going to boom again. It's going to boom again.”
"You need smart people running your country. We don't have that. We have just the exact opposite."
"Somebody said the other day, what is your policy, like, on the military? I said, America first. America first."
"We defend Saudi Arabia. Who has more money than Saudi Arabia? They were making, before the oil went down, they were making one billion dollars a day. A billion a day. We defend them, and we pay rent on places that we lease for our military. We pay rent. We take care of everybody. We take care of Germany. We take care of South Korea. We take care of Japan. We take care of everybody. And we're not reimbursed on a fair basis. "
On the New York Times: "It's a failing newspaper. It's probably not going to live for another year."
This is a prime example of Trumpiness. He starts off by personally insulting the only other candidate still in the race, then makes incredibly vague platitudes and promises that don’t actually promise anything. Then he goes into some absolutely bizarre complaint about paying rent on military bases (???), and we finish up with an absolutely batshit prediction that was never going to come anywhere close to true and did not, in the end come true.
(I can vouch for the quotes, but not the order in which they were given; this is from a notes file I kept)
It’s been four years of this absolute bullshit, and a whole lot of people love it. I do not get it, I will not ever get it, I can not get it. Joe Biden amassed a lot of votes because there are a lot of people in this country who hate Donald Trump. Donald Trump amassed a lot of votes because there are a lot of people in this country who love Donald Trump.
This is a flabbergasting concept to me. I have written it out several times and in several ways, but the fact remains: Trump is extremely popular for such an historically unpopular candidate. There is a unique thing about him that appeals to part of the population. I don’t know what that is, but it’s real, and it’s dangerous, and someday — possibly pretty soon — someone will come along who combines that with reasonably effective governance. The cage is now unlocked, and we’re very close to someone opening the door and letting the tiger free.