In addition to his supposed business acumen, the other selling point for Losin' Donnie's candidacy was the perception that he could "tell it like it is" and that he understood and was a friend of everyday Americans. There's a verified paper trail of Trump's consistent screwing over working Americans: time after time when he didn't pay small contractors or suppliers and used his resources to draw out court battles that the little guy couldn't financially maintain. But even without those facts, why does anyone think that an alleged billionaire, who used to live in a penthouse literally covered in gold, who now lives in an actual country club, has anything in common with, or even sympathizes with, the average working American? So what about Losin' Donnie appealed to so many people?
Could it be...hatred?
Despite the recurring whining about "that's not who we are", for a large segment of our population, hated-filled is exactly who we are. We have a long history of hatred for, persecution of, and discriminating against, the "other" among us. I don't need to outline every example for you to know it's true. Trump's campaign started and finished with stoking fear and hatred of those who were deemed "not real Americans" and even more so for those who wanted to come here but were viewed as unsuitably different than us. Did he originate this mindset? Of course not, but his one skill has always been self-promotion and salesmanship despite general incompetence. He very quickly identified that hate, not hope, would bring him the greatest support. There's an audio clip of Donnie shouting out that he loves the poorly educated. And he surely does, because he knows that most Americans are not educated on the nuances and details of domestic or foreign policy and make decisions based on emotion. And he tapped into that basic of the emotions - fear - to stoke hatred and foster a perverted us versus them scenario.
And what did he do for the average working Joe or Jane? He gave them rallies. He gave them tweets. He insulted his opponents and categorized them as "enemies". His one legislative achievement was to slightly reduce the individual income tax rate after promising to overhaul the tax code to eliminate loopholes. Few if any loopholes were done away with, but corporations, and by extension the wealthy who run them, received a significant reduction in corporate income taxes. His executive orders mainly benefitted large corporations. His presidency was a bloated vanity project and an opportunity make a few extra (million) bucks.
Not that politics has ever been a Sunday School picnic, but in a few short years hatred has become the winning strategy, at least in Republican circles. The aforementioned poorly educated have bought into his pseudo-agenda - Trumpism and its attendant fixations are de rigueur for any Republican running for public office, from US Senate all the way to local school boards and small town mayoral races. And there's the distinct possibility that he will run again...and win.
The bastard hasn't gone away.
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