jonattonyeah My dad discussed his theory of this in that talk he gave the other night. First and foremost, Don has the classic fascist personality. By definition, someone with this trait is able to command fanatical support. Whatever you want to say about the guy, Don is undeniably charismatic. It’s how he’s managed to stay relevant for all of his career. Secondly, the political circumstances have to be right. No matter how skilled a person is, you can’t just enter the scene and get to where Don has. Not on charisma alone. You need the zeitgeist that Hegel and other philosophers have talked about. A full generation of Americans has been completely left behind by the economy, and we have watched countless politicians come and go with out doing a single meaningful thing. Another thing that Don is undeniably good at is exposing worm politicians for being exactly what they are. Third and finally, the true believers are people with nothing to lose. They are either poor, and have nothing financially to lose, or they are people like small business owners who know that they their financial foothold is secure enough. I think most of them share deep racist values. There are the people that, like you said, are homers. They love that he owns the libs. It makes them feel good because Trump is living their life experiences for them. I am not saying racism would go away completely, but I think it would be WAY less prevalent if most American households could live off one pay check, afford to send their children to school, take vacations, retire ex ex ex. In a nutshell, it’s that he current and sustained economic conditions have created the zeitgeist that makes the fascist personality able to thrive.
My own theory, that I think goes nicely with the above, is that the media massively fucked up in once again fighting the Dem’s culture war, and branding Don as this toxically masculine pig. It feeds into his narrative, and he loves it. The homers love it, and the libtards hate it. I’d argue that Don is not some big tuff guy, but a weirdo NY fancy lad who is closer to your grandmother in behavior, than someone like Hulk Hogan. The guy talked to coal minors in WV about how hair spray doesn’t work like it used to, and to jug hooters in FL about how dishwashers aren’t as good as they used to be. He loves the “hansom generals” and “troops from central casting”, and he likes talking about his hot friends Tom Brady and Tom Cruise. That HBO doc that came out with Matty Gaets had more of this. When he called Trump to talk about some bill all Don could say was “You are so hansom. You have THE LOOK. Melania always tells me!” So weird. And he is ALWAYS talking about men hugging and kissing him. He got COVID from cops kissing him, and he was told by his Dr that he could “kiss the guys!” I think it would have been much smarter if the media had painted him as some creepy old guy with effeminate tendencies. It would drive him out of his mind, and certainly wouldn’t have fed into the monster that he and his die hards have become.
