Lesson of Trump #2
19th January 2021
ZMan continues his analysis.
One of the ironies of the Trump phenomenon is that his most ardent supporters and his many opponents focused on the man, when it was never about the man. Ten years ago, no rational person would have picked Donald Trump as the face of populist discontent, much less the most consequential political figure in generations. When he ran, it was assumed it was a publicity stunt, as he had spent his life as an entertainment gadfly, finding ways to draw public attention to his real estate schemes.
Yet, as the Trump era draws to a close, both his supporters and his enemies have developed a political cult around the man. His supporters are sure he has some last trick up his sleeve to do something to save the country. His opponents are sure he has some trick up his sleeve to steal their democracy from them. So much so, in fact, they have turned the tiny internet fad called QAnon into a subversive conspiracy. There are more anti-Q fanatics now than genuine followers of it.
The post everyone misses about Trump is that he is not a politician; he doesn’t do the things that everyone expects politicians to do, nor does he say things that everyone expects politicians to say.
What he is, is a businessman. He regards mainstream Americans as his customers, and he did what he could to satisfy them. He took the things that people have been asking Republican politicians for since Goldwater (and have so seldom gotten any of them) and said, ‘You want it? You got it!’ That is the secret of his success.
But as long as people keep focusing on Trump The Man, they’re going to keep missing what he accomplished and how he Changed Everything.
January 19th, 2021 at 13:15
He revealed that the Republican Party is completely fractured and has nothing but a name holding it together.
He revealed that The Swamp is far broader and deeper than anyone imagined.
He revealed that Republican candidates for POTUS were so weak and/or stupid that they couldn’t possibly win an election. All they had to do is to do what Trump did in the primaries and they should have easily knocked him out of the election. But they were incapable of that. They couldn’t make the speeches, they couldn’t take the stands, they couldn’t hook the right financial backers, they couldn’t cut the deals. They were toothless. Oh, yeah, that should have been obvious with candidates like McCain and Romney and Dole, but when the dozen leading Republican candidates can’t even come close to beating a guy who never ran for so much as Hall Monitor, BIG changes are needed.