By Paul Rozycki
For the last decade, since he rode down the escalator in Trump Tower in 2015, Donald Trump has been a dominant factor in American politics.
He lost the popular vote but won an Electoral College victory in 2016. He lost both the popular vote and the Electoral College in 2020. Then, he won both in 2024. Above and beyond the specific factors that won Trump the victory this year, he has a unique cult-like following that perhaps no other president or candidate has ever had.
In the years to come many books and articles will be written about Trump’s appeal, how it persisted so long, and its impact on American politics. It’s true he raised significant issues to support his candidacy, such as immigration, crime, and the economy, but many other candidates raised similar issues and didn’t have the same fervent supporters.
For past presidential candidates, once the election is over the yard signs, flags, and bumper stickers disappear. That hasn’t been the case with Trump. Even after his 2020 loss, the yard signs and MAGA hats stayed on lawns or atop heads.
He converted the traditional conservative/Christian/country club/chamber of commerce Republican Party into the Trump party – a party where loyalty to Trump is the core requirement. Many of those who had been Trump’s harshest critics, like J.D. Vance or Nikki Haley, have become loyal supporters. And those who were not, like Mitt Romney or Liz Cheney, have left the party or were driven out.
One of the biggest surprises to me was that Kamala Harris’ appeal to the never-Trump Republicans didn’t deliver enough votes to make a difference. The long list of Republican officials who worked with him and who denounced him seemed to have minimal effect on voters. As I discussed last month, Trump has even found increased support among groups that have traditionally favored Democrats strongly, such as Hispanic and African American voters, as well as white working class voters. Why?
The outlaw
As a candidate, Trump broke almost every traditional rule of politics and not only survived but prospered.
What other candidate could insult veterans, women, people with disabilities, Hispanics and African Americans (and many others) and still get support from those same groups? What other candidate could use a police mugshot as a campaign fundraising device? What other candidate would be caught paying off a porn star, cheating on his wife, hiding classified documents, and still be a viable candidate? What other candidate could face 34 felony convictions and still be able to run for anything? What other candidate would go on TV selling bibles, gold coins, guitars, athletic shoes, or digital trading cards like a carnival barker?
For all the reverence we have for “law and order” in this country, we also have an affection for “the outlaw” and those who go out of their way to break the rules. How many country western singers brag about the fact that they served time in prison? Many rappers or rock stars make the same claim. While we mostly desire law and order for ourselves, we still enjoy movies and books about crime and glory, like the Godfather, Bonnie & Clyde, and Billy the Kid who made their marks breaking the law or traditions.
Trump may be the quintessential outlaw politician who takes a certain perverse pride in his rule-breaking, and he finds support from those who wish they could do the same thing. The persona allows him to play the victim of “the elite” or “the establishment” – who he claims are out to get him as he appeals for public sympathy. He gets votes from those who also feel left out by those vague entities, and Hillary Clinton’s labeling of Trump supporters as “deplorable” in her 2016 campaign widened that divide.
The outsider
Among all of our presidents Trump is unique in many ways, but one of the most notable is the fact that he is the only president who never held a government position before being elected to the White House. All previous presidents, and nearly all past major party nominees, have either held an elected or appointed government position or been a military leader prior to their presidential bid. Trump had none of that.
That fact alone allowed him to tap into the distrust that has grown over all levels of government in recent decades.
As the outsider he could blame many problems on the “deep state” governmental bureaucracy, and more than a few of his nominees to cabinet positions are also outsiders who attack the very departments they are expected to lead.
The celebrity
In his infamous Access Hollywood tape Trump said, “When you’re a star… you can do anything,” as he brags about groping women. He has also claimed that he could “shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any votes” and used his celebrity status and the media to his advantage.
While he loves to condemn the “mainstream media” and attack those he deems part of it with regularity, he has also been able to manipulate them to keep his name and face in front of the public endlessly.
When was the last time there were two days in a row without some news story about Trump, either positive or negative? As a former reality TV celebrity, he often brags about his media ratings or crowd sizes as much as any actual political accomplishments.
He knows how to use the media, and they can use him. Trump is good copy. When an airplane lands safely that isn’t news, but when it crashes it is. When Trump makes crazy claims about Obama’s birth certificate, windmills causing cancer, and drinking bleach to cure COVID-19, it’s hard to turn away. After all, what story is likely to grab your attention: a story about Haitian immigrants eating pets or a story about a congressional hearing on the capital gains tax?
In the final analysis on Trump’s celebrity, it’s not the media to blame. We, the public, are the ones who react. We read the porn star hush money story or click on the post about a “vile” rally before we move on to content about anything else.
And Trump the entertainer, the celebrity, knows this.
I’ve often joked that if we could just go three days, 72 hours, without having Trump’s name in any media—not the newspapers, the TV, radio, website, social media, newsletter, or blog – that his head would explode and he would be gone.
But that’s not likely to happen.
To use the old Pogo phrase, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
This article also appears in East Village Magazine’s December 2024 issue.
