He's the archetype narcissist-populist
by Brahms (2024-01-20 11:14:07)
Edited on 2024-01-21 09:45:21

In reply to: The problem is that his intended audience believes ...  posted by Barney68

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There is so much anger and resentment out there among GOP-types, especially those with little buffer to absorb the perceived whims and vanity projects of the establishment. Trump is a big middle finger and sucker punch at those running the establishment carnival.

Example: I met a former commercial fisherman from MA while in NH on summer vacation prior to Trump's first term. The guy was pissed at the system -- he had been a lifelong 2nd generation commercial fisherman, and was having his business managed by MA State bureaucrats examining his catch and telling him what he could and could not fish. His was a catch-as-catch-can (no pun intended) existence to begin with, and then on top of it all he had some fresh college grad from a boutique liberal arts school with a degree in environmental something or other who had never spent a day on a working boat telling him about fish species and fishing zones and rejecting half his haul. As he told it, the MA official couldn't even recognize the species of fish he was talking about. The fisherman said screw it, sold his boat, and moved to rural ME and got licensed to work as a guide. He was all in on Trump, because the system had gotten too silly, and he wanted someone who was going to speak truth to nonsense, and blow the whole thing up. He was one of many with a similar anger and resentment I met that summer. I can only imagine where he's at now with the more recent culture wars and activist cause-de-jour; he was, back then, already concerned by the creep of the MA education system.

Trump is a poor man's idea of a rich, successful man; but at the same time someone who has no respect for the system or cultural elites. His supporters apparently don't care that he's batshit crazy or full of shit himself, as long as he's their voice in saying enough already with the nonsense. They aren't seduced about policy or progress in some grand sense; they just want the nonsense to stop, and they'd prefer Trump's cloddish bullshit over the day-day nonsense they see creeping into their schools, impacting their businesses, etc.

Trump, for his part, doesn't know or care how stupid he is. He doesn't have any sense of what his ideals are. He doesn't understand the importance of institutions; his true north is the camera and the microphone.

A true deal with the devil.


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