What threw so many of us off about Trumps popularity is the behavior we saw was crude, racist, or misogynist, and that would naturally disqualify him from victory. Hell Howard Dean's 2004 primary campaign was supposedly derailed by an awkward yell. How long could Trump last? Much of that behavior however was just proving to the rightwing that Trump was their hero but not for the reasons one might initially think.
Its fair to say that there are more overt strands of racism throughout the rightwing. I personally believe we all have some level of institutionalized racism in us but its fair to say that the left does a better job of trying to address that within ourselves in a positive way. Misogyny is harder for me to get a feel for in the right/left dynamic. I would guess its fairly pervasive generally. There is no question some Trump supporters where primarily drawn to him for those whistles he blew. However almost the entire Republican field blows those whistles during the primaries. One could argue Trump blew it better than the rest, and that's probably true, but I don't think that explains what set him so drastically apart from the other candidates to the rightwing.
The primary draw is that Trump was seen by the rightwing as an "outsider" which is something he has in common with 2008 Obama. The right is anti-government so getting a candidate who has never even been in government is truly a special thing for them. The left got their "community organizer grassroots" outsider and the right got their "successful businessman entrepreneur" outsider.
The rightwing distrusts the mainstream media. They think its all a liberal agenda selling disinformation and poor values. The more the media attacked Trump the stronger the conviction of his supporters that he was indeed the RWH. For left leaning folks like me it just seemed like a hopeless parade of fail by Trump but to the rightwing it didn't really matter much what he was saying or what he was doing. The fact that the media shit on Trump all year was about as glowing a seal of authenticity as you are going to get for the rightwing. Even Fox news was thought to be tepid on Trump and he had battles with Fox personalities like with Megyn Kelly. That's some serious outsider RWH cred. As the right hates the media it makes sense that the RWH would battle the media and win.
2008 Obama was the polar opposite. He was loved by the media. MSNBC couldn't fawn over him enough. His 2008 campaign won advertising awards. The same way the media's revulsion of Trump made the leftwing dislike him more, the media's embrace of 2008 Obama likely made the rightwing more antagonistic.
Another aspect of the rightwing's anti-government ideology that Trump got millage from was his battles with his own Republican party. The left wants their LWH to heal the divide and bring both parties together. Obama sold that in 2008 and once in office it rarely seemed to matter to his supporters that he would "compromise" everything he campaigned on to get legislation passed. Obamacare was publicly acknowledged to be patterned after Romney Care from his time as governor of Massachusetts. Obama supporters vigorously defended the fight for Obamacare even as Obama stripped away core promised, populist features such as the Public Option and the deal Obama cut with big Pharma to leave them largely unaffected and free of risk that the US government would begin negotiating for better prices. The left was content to watch their LWH successfully work with the opposition to reach bipartisan consensus, even if that meant having critical promises left out of the legislation.
The right however wants confrontation. They want Trump to challenge Establishment forces, fight them, and force them to comply. The right is not interested in compromise which they often see as a sign of weakness, not savvy. Trump delivered this aspect during his campaign through the myriad of conflicts he had with this own party. The media portrayed the Republican Party as generally against him during the primaries. Trump had multiple battles with Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House, both during the primaries and even right up to the election.
He had battles with former presidential candidate John McCain. Remember in 2008 McCain was not all that popular with the rightwing. It was Sarah Palin that brought all the energy to that campaign. McCain put out a statement that served as a whistle to the righwing that Trump was indeed their hero. If longtime establishment insider they didn't really like said Trump didnt represent them, then the rightwing thought it even more likely that Trump actually did.
These are orchestrated feuds of the election psyop. The fact that Trump will not only quickly bury what seemed to be feuds filled with such vitriol and animosity, as was the case with his pivot away from going after Hillary once he won, he is taking that a step further by literally appointing a previous antagonist to one of the most important positions in his administration. However the right has been fully convinced this is the RWH through this successful election psyop so they will defend even such obvious contradictions. Americans have been conditioned to be masters of cognitive dissonance.
I mentioned in the opening thesis the example of what the left and the right want of their hero in regards to the rest of the worlds opinion of them. Obama went so far as to give a major campaign speech in Germany which is very odd for a US politician on the campaign trail. However it fit perfectly with the narrative of the ascending LWH. There was even some minor conflict with Chancellor Angela Merkel over the location of that speech but eventually it was all smoothed over and Obama gave his speech to massive, cheering crowds in the location Merkel had questioned. That's what the LWH does. He can work with world leaders to get what America wants and inspire even the people of their country.
The right is much more nationalistic. They want America first which Trump is always careful to point out. Even in his victory speech he said, "I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America's interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone." So the fact that the world largely hated and feared Trump was another whistle to the rightwing that Trump was the RWH. The left sees this and thinks, "Why would anyone elect this troll? He wont be able to get anything done with the rest of the world." The right on the other hand generally feels that if the rest of the world doesn't get on board then screw them.
Interestingly the only time I think Trump gave any real political comments abroad during the election cycle was when he was in Scotland promoting two of his golf courses. This was on the heels of the Brexit vote. That seems so orchestrated. Trump, a nationalist candidate who is largely hated by the world, happens to be in one of the very few situations abroad at the very moment when the sentiment has just climaxed to a very nationalist, anti-establishment vibe, so he would actually be well received.
To end this post I want to circle back around to where it started, the topic of what I will for simplicity's sake call Trumps' "crude" behavior. The left reacted with revulsion to the crude language while the right was excited by it. The left wants their LWH to be PC while the right has no interest in that. They want a "straight talker" who "tells it like it is". It didn't matter to the right what ridiculous things Trump would say, it only mattered that he was willing to say them. I bet it didn't even matter if they agreed with what he said. That he would say relatively taboo things, at least from the PC perspective, was further proof that their RWH had arrived.
As a left leaning person that distinction didn't register with me during the campaign. I was focused on what he was saying like the rest of the left without considering why the right was so excited by it. It was easy to listen to the media and dismiss his supporters as a bunch of racists and misogynists. Trump however won a large electoral victory and likely many people who voted for Obama in 2008 switched to Trump in 2016. Where those people not racists then and magically became racists by 2016? What makes more sense is that economic improvement these people were promised in 2008 never materialized. In fact for many things got worse.
The right however wants confrontation. They want Trump to challenge Establishment forces, fight them, and force them to comply. The right is not interested in compromise which they often see as a sign of weakness, not savvy. Trump delivered this aspect during his campaign through the myriad of conflicts he had with this own party. The media portrayed the Republican Party as generally against him during the primaries. Trump had multiple battles with Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House, both during the primaries and even right up to the election.
He had battles with former presidential candidate John McCain. Remember in 2008 McCain was not all that popular with the rightwing. It was Sarah Palin that brought all the energy to that campaign. McCain put out a statement that served as a whistle to the righwing that Trump was indeed their hero. If longtime establishment insider they didn't really like said Trump didnt represent them, then the rightwing thought it even more likely that Trump actually did.
"I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates....""Arizona is watching. It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us." - John McCainTrump even battled the RNC chairmen Reince Priebus during the primaries claiming Priebus was running a scam and should be ashamed of himself. This is the same Reince Priebus Trump has just named to be his Chief of Staff. But just as Obama railed against Wallstreet only to pack his cabinet full of Wallstreet insiders while his supporters made up every excuse imaginable to defend him, so will be the case with Trump supporters, even though less than a year ago Trump spoke as if Priebus was a terrible, dishonorable, Republican Party Establishment shill out to sabotage him.
These are orchestrated feuds of the election psyop. The fact that Trump will not only quickly bury what seemed to be feuds filled with such vitriol and animosity, as was the case with his pivot away from going after Hillary once he won, he is taking that a step further by literally appointing a previous antagonist to one of the most important positions in his administration. However the right has been fully convinced this is the RWH through this successful election psyop so they will defend even such obvious contradictions. Americans have been conditioned to be masters of cognitive dissonance.
I mentioned in the opening thesis the example of what the left and the right want of their hero in regards to the rest of the worlds opinion of them. Obama went so far as to give a major campaign speech in Germany which is very odd for a US politician on the campaign trail. However it fit perfectly with the narrative of the ascending LWH. There was even some minor conflict with Chancellor Angela Merkel over the location of that speech but eventually it was all smoothed over and Obama gave his speech to massive, cheering crowds in the location Merkel had questioned. That's what the LWH does. He can work with world leaders to get what America wants and inspire even the people of their country.
The right is much more nationalistic. They want America first which Trump is always careful to point out. Even in his victory speech he said, "I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America's interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone." So the fact that the world largely hated and feared Trump was another whistle to the rightwing that Trump was the RWH. The left sees this and thinks, "Why would anyone elect this troll? He wont be able to get anything done with the rest of the world." The right on the other hand generally feels that if the rest of the world doesn't get on board then screw them.
Interestingly the only time I think Trump gave any real political comments abroad during the election cycle was when he was in Scotland promoting two of his golf courses. This was on the heels of the Brexit vote. That seems so orchestrated. Trump, a nationalist candidate who is largely hated by the world, happens to be in one of the very few situations abroad at the very moment when the sentiment has just climaxed to a very nationalist, anti-establishment vibe, so he would actually be well received.
To end this post I want to circle back around to where it started, the topic of what I will for simplicity's sake call Trumps' "crude" behavior. The left reacted with revulsion to the crude language while the right was excited by it. The left wants their LWH to be PC while the right has no interest in that. They want a "straight talker" who "tells it like it is". It didn't matter to the right what ridiculous things Trump would say, it only mattered that he was willing to say them. I bet it didn't even matter if they agreed with what he said. That he would say relatively taboo things, at least from the PC perspective, was further proof that their RWH had arrived.
As a left leaning person that distinction didn't register with me during the campaign. I was focused on what he was saying like the rest of the left without considering why the right was so excited by it. It was easy to listen to the media and dismiss his supporters as a bunch of racists and misogynists. Trump however won a large electoral victory and likely many people who voted for Obama in 2008 switched to Trump in 2016. Where those people not racists then and magically became racists by 2016? What makes more sense is that economic improvement these people were promised in 2008 never materialized. In fact for many things got worse.
A recent article showed this graphic of household median income by state from 2000-2015.
The red and yellow are the ones who actually lost median income. Notice key states that Republicans often have a hard time winning are in the red, and Trump won most of those including Michigan, Ohio, Florida, and Indiana. The article argues that much of the median income gain has to do with the shale and gas boom but that money really only helped bring up the median without helping lots of households. So while Pennsylvania is green on this graphic I think Trump won Pennsylvania because most people there are still experiencing economic hardship and do not sense any sort of recovery.
When it comes to manipulating our emotions the Establishment largely understand the American public better than it understands itself. It has a myriad of online metrics it can use through mainstream media and social media. It has access to our email, calls, and texts. It should be of little surprise that they can push different groups of us in directions of their choosing. The Establishment very clearly understood that if you turn the entire media apparatus on the RWH it would further elevate the candidate toward RWH status. If they wanted Trump buried they would have ignored him (like they did with Ron Paul) instead of giving him unlimited free advertising. It was a feature to the 2016 Trump campaign that the media coverage was overwhelmingly negative because that was designed as a signal to the rightwing that Trump was the RWH.
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