Himself and his many grievances
Almost 30 years after a cult leader caused a disaster in Waco, Trump rallied his own political cult—and the location cannot be a coincidence—in that same Texas city. The Waco tent revival featured the usual Trumpian cast of grifters, carnies, and misfits, including the fan favorites Mike Lindell and Ted Nugent. Most of the former president’s speech was, of course, about himself and his many grievances, and the crowd reportedly began to thin out somewhat early.
I never will understand why a flabby rich guy who never stops talking about himself and his ludicrous grievances is so appealing to The Folk. He’s rich. He’s self-obsessed. He’s greedy. He’s lazy. He’s cruel. He’s a liar. He’s a rapist. He’s grandiose. What in that list makes him a man of the people?
I know that many people, after years of this mad-king routine, simply do not want to process anything with the words Donald Trump in it. I don’t blame you. But let’s not look away: In Waco, Trump embraced a creepy mash-up of the national anthem, “USA” chants, and his own voice, and then proceeded for some 90 minutes to make clear that he is now irrevocably all in with the seditionists, the conspiracy theorists, the “Trump or death” fanatics, the Vladimir Putin fanboys—the whole appalling lot of them.
Well, yes, but…um…he sticks it to the libs. Yeah, that’s it. He’s not politically correct.
Trump and his minions, especially elected Republicans, are experts at pretending that things didn’t happen the way we saw them. Ask a GOP official about Trump’s offensive statements, and you’ll likely get “I didn’t see that,” “I don’t read his tweets,” “I’ll have to check into that,” and other squirts of verbal helium.
It’s all worth it because look, abortion rights are mostly gone. Victory!
The only thing I can see is that Trump hates on and pisses off the same people that they love to hate and love to piss off. If people you believe are fundamentally wrong and bad are alarmed by something you’re doing, then you must be doing something right. If they hate Trump, then you love him. If you have little or no political agenda beyond making your liberal enemies’ heads explode, then Trump’s your man. The lack of any actual, positive achievement is beside the point. That much of what he did do (I don’t think I would use the word “accomplish”) was injurious to his supporters is also beside the point. That he obviously holds most of his base in thinly disguised contempt, ditto. He drives the libs CRAZY! That’s the point.
If it’s not that, then I got nuthin’.
That certainly is at least part of the reason. But there are other people who hate on and piss off the same people that they love to hate and love to piss off, who don’t have all those spoiled rich brat drawbacks that Trump has. I dunno – he’s their Lenny Bruce, I guess.
Most of the Trumpistas I know (which is too many) don’t see in him what we see. It isn’t even about pissing off libs. It’s about seeing him as the American Dream come true, a man who made a fortune (they might admit he inherited a little of it, but insist he made most of his money through hard work and smarts). They think he’s the sort of rich person who doesn’t talk down to them; they can’t see how condescending he is and how he hates all of them. They think he is talking to them personally.
It’s sort of like my Christian friends who don’t see any of the horrible stuff in the Bible.
That’s like saying Ted Nugent is their Gershwin. I mean, I guess it’s true, but, ugh….
And is it any coincidence that Waco is just one letter removed from Wacko?
The incongruity was entirely on purpose, I promise.
I think that MAGA, like any group of any size, contains many sub-groups. As mentioned in this thread already, there are the “he sticks it to the libs” folks, and the ones who think he’s truly a self-made man.
I’ll name two other factions:
1. The Sophisticates. They find him rather disgusting, but he riles up the rubes, and we need their votes.
2. The “Smart Marks.” For them, Trump is like a professional wrestler. Telling them that Trump is a lying phony is like telling wrestling fans “it’s not real, you know.” Duh, they would say, rolling their eyes. They enjoy Trump’s performances the same way people enjoyed Ric Flair. There is some overlap here with the “I like that he pisses off the libs” folks.
Latter Years Lenny Bruce concentrated heavily on his grievances and he would do entire shows reading negative press about him, so the comparisons may be apt.
Except for the fact that Trump was never funny at all.