What Factors Gave Us Trump?

What are the big elements that changed a decade of American political-watching and existence?

When Trump first “descended the escalator,” I doubt anyone thought he would win in that year — at the time of the escalator thing, I believe Jeb Bush was considered a potential favorite to be the Republican nominee — much less that, almost 10 years later, a former Manhattan real estate developer would consume all the political oxygen for basically a decade.

More ink has been spilled on Trump and his rise up through politics than probably any other topic of the last decade save maybe the Kardashians and opioid addiction, but let's try to summarize some of the key themes herein. How exactly did we get to Trump? What allowed him to rise?

His own media savvy

Personally, I wouldn’t call Trump very “savvy” at anything, although he was a good developer in the sense of keeping costs down and luxury up and keeping his name out there. If you lived in Manhattan during the 1980s and 1990s, you know he was a big force in the tabloids. I believe he was on the cover of The New York Post 48 times, and it might even be a higher number than that. Trump is very good at juicing himself, and he’s also very good at giving you something to pay attention to (“best sex I ever had”) when it’s really not that important. How many people just covered his Arnold Palmer dick story vs., say, the decline of public education? He is a master at getting attention with distractions. He’s actually doubly good at that in politics, because liberals hate him so much that they can’t look away, unaware that the attention feeds him.

Obama winning twice

Trump basically entered politics on the “birther” stuff with Obama, and some have even argued that Obama mocking him at various Correspondent Dinners was what drove Trump into the fray. I could see it. He is not a man who likes to be slighted, especially by a black guy who’s well-spoken. You can avoid this fact if you want, but a lot of America is racist — less than the far left claims, but it still exists — and Obama getting the bag was a major concern for people that think blacks need to reside in a specific subpar universe. Trump did successfully channel some of that hatred. American politics is weird in that usually we go from a two-term of one party to the other party, with the exception of Reagan to Bush, although Dukakis was a bad candidate. But then Bush didn’t get two terms. We like to switch it up. I doubt a Democrat would have won anyway after eight years of Obama, but Trump was uniquely the aggrieved white guy to break through.

The shift in the role of men

The main #MeToo wave happened just after Trump was in office, but the role of men had been shifting for a while, especially around various economic provider narratives. Most male politicians are dopey losers in suits who get driven around in tinted Suburbans. Trump is a weird guy, and says weird things, but he channels hypermasculinity at some level: his name is on the Manhattan skyline. He has married supermodels. He has five kids. He had a top TV show. Etc, etc. If you feel lost and adrift as a guy, who would resonate for you? Jeb Bush? Or Donald Trump? That’s an easy answer. This is the same reason DeSantis couldn’t end Trump for us — he’s not retail. While his wife is attractive and he has kids and he went to Yale, the hypermasculinity isn’t there. And that’s important in these discussions.

Partisanship / Polarization

Probably 47% of people will always vote red, so once you get the top slot, you’re the guy until another guy comes along. Just by getting through the 2016 primaries, including telling Megyn Kelly she was bleeding from somewhere, he became “the guy” for people.

His own attitudes about winning

Kinda ties to the masculinity thing above, but he is very big on winning and being №1, even if many of his notable buildings (which he didn’t build, but licensed) are falling down by now. This all is covered well in this video:

“Owning The Libs”

I don’t think we can possibly articulate how much some people hate the liberals, especially the Clintons and a lot of the far left that’s emerged since 2020. There is a perception that Trump makes these people even more deranged and lives rent free in their heads, and that makes the base of people who despises liberals froth at the mouth. That is a big part of DT’s rise as well.

Perception vs. reality

Even though Trump has had (I believe) six bankruptcies, he is still branded as a successful biz guy because of The Apprentice and the name being on various skylines — and, honestly, because he talks about it enough and we’re well past the era of fact-checking. Most of America these days either (a) struggles to get by or (b) just reads the headlines. Trump is perfect for both those groups, even though he really doesn’t do that much to help those struggling to get by.

Big Tech

Weirdly, most of the Big Tech bros have become right-leaning now. I probably shouldn’t say “weirdly” since as you age with money and a family, it’s logical to lean right. But the impacts of Big Tech played right into Trump too — the Upper Midwest, which now decides basically every national election, is the area of America perhaps most fucked by globalization and automation. Guys saw their grandfather as a provider with a stable manufacturing job, and they have to deliver DoorDash at night if they want to have a second kid. That happened in a 40-year shift of American history. Now, the irony is that a lot of Trump’s NYC buddies and guys that broke bread at Trump Tower in 1989 were a big part of why there’s such a gaping inequality chasm, buuuuuttttt Trump did a better job of channeling the rage and grievance of a guy in Ohio or Michigan than anyone else.

What else did I miss?