I’ve seldom seen anyone so succinctly identify what Trump’s appeal is to so many Americans. His niece summed up the fact that the Incontinent Autocrat hasn’t a single redeeming human value.
Here Robert Lee White nails the fact that this is precisely why he won two elections and, the worse his rule the more his appeal to millions of Americans.
I used to wonder how it was possible that Trump could have won in 2016, and this second time in 2024 given how emotionally toxic and depraved he is.
I no longer do. I actually think he won, for that precise reason. Because he had at least one fucked-up part to mirror the fucked-up parts of millions.
If you are a racist, you found your guy.
If you are a misogynist, you found your guy.
If all you care about is money, you found your guy.
If you have an emotionally armored heart, you found your guy.
If you make fun of disabled people, you found your guy.
If you hate intelligent people, you found your guy.
If you are a rapist, you found your guy.
If you like golden showers with Russian sex-workers, you found your guy.
If you have not done a stitch of work on your emotional issues, you found your guy.
If you are a serial cheater, you found your guy. If you are a perpetual bankrupt, you found your guy. If you don’t pay people for their honest work, you found your guy.
If you are a hustler and a conman, you found your guy.
If you mock people’s physical appearances, you found your guy.
If you long for a toxic Daddy, you found your guy.
If you are dissociated and disembodied, you found your guy.
If you are unconscionable in all your economic dealings, you found your guy.
If you lie day and night, you found your guy. If you have never eaten green vegetables, you found your guy.
If you are a white supremacist, you found your guy.
If you have a hole in your ego so big that not even the presidency could fill it, you found your guy.
If you are a sociopath, and care not one iota about other humans, you found your guy.
If you...
If he only had two of these issues, he never would have won. It was the fact that he had hundreds of them, that made him the winner. Because millions of humans are toxic. So they could relate to him, in one form or another.
It's never been about trump. It's always been about the people who finally have their twisted feelings about others validated. trump has given "those people" permission to disparage and hate their fellow human beings.
trump is only symptomatic of a much larger issue of a collective toxicity. If there is a single sentence that characterizes trump it is this: “He says the things I’m thinking.”
That may be what is so terrifying. Who knew that so many tens of millions of Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans?
Who knew that tens of millions men felt so emasculated by women and challenged by minorities? Who knew that after years of seeming progress on race and gender, tens of millions of white Americans lived in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to arrive who would legitimize their worst selves and channel them into political power?
Perhaps we had been living in a fool’s paradise.
Now we aren’t.
Here Robert Lee White nails the fact that this is precisely why he won two elections and, the worse his rule the more his appeal to millions of Americans.
I used to wonder how it was possible that Trump could have won in 2016, and this second time in 2024 given how emotionally toxic and depraved he is.
I no longer do. I actually think he won, for that precise reason. Because he had at least one fucked-up part to mirror the fucked-up parts of millions.
If you are a racist, you found your guy.
If you are a misogynist, you found your guy.
If all you care about is money, you found your guy.
If you have an emotionally armored heart, you found your guy.
If you make fun of disabled people, you found your guy.
If you hate intelligent people, you found your guy.
If you are a rapist, you found your guy.
If you like golden showers with Russian sex-workers, you found your guy.
If you have not done a stitch of work on your emotional issues, you found your guy.
If you are a serial cheater, you found your guy. If you are a perpetual bankrupt, you found your guy. If you don’t pay people for their honest work, you found your guy.
If you are a hustler and a conman, you found your guy.
If you mock people’s physical appearances, you found your guy.
If you long for a toxic Daddy, you found your guy.
If you are dissociated and disembodied, you found your guy.
If you are unconscionable in all your economic dealings, you found your guy.
If you lie day and night, you found your guy. If you have never eaten green vegetables, you found your guy.
If you are a white supremacist, you found your guy.
If you have a hole in your ego so big that not even the presidency could fill it, you found your guy.
If you are a sociopath, and care not one iota about other humans, you found your guy.
If you...
If he only had two of these issues, he never would have won. It was the fact that he had hundreds of them, that made him the winner. Because millions of humans are toxic. So they could relate to him, in one form or another.
It's never been about trump. It's always been about the people who finally have their twisted feelings about others validated. trump has given "those people" permission to disparage and hate their fellow human beings.
trump is only symptomatic of a much larger issue of a collective toxicity. If there is a single sentence that characterizes trump it is this: “He says the things I’m thinking.”
That may be what is so terrifying. Who knew that so many tens of millions of Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans?
Who knew that tens of millions men felt so emasculated by women and challenged by minorities? Who knew that after years of seeming progress on race and gender, tens of millions of white Americans lived in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to arrive who would legitimize their worst selves and channel them into political power?
Perhaps we had been living in a fool’s paradise.
Now we aren’t.