This is America’s moment of authenticity. It’s why every GOP candidate, from Ted Cruz to Rand Paul to Lindsey Graham, is rushing to perform silly stunts—putting a cell phone in a blender, destroying the tax code with a chainsaw, and making “machine-gun bacon”—to demonstrate they’ve got some personality. President Obama himself accelerated the trend, proving his coolness by selling his agenda with comedian Zach Galifianakis on Between Two Ferns and with YouTube sensation GloZell.
Trump is the clearest example of this phenomenon. The celebrity business mogul is brash and offensive. Even though he has taken positions that would be toxic both in a GOP primary (past support for single-payer health care, backing abortion rights) and a general election (calling illegal immigrants from Mexico “rapists,” and mocking John McCain for being held as a prisoner of war), he has surged into first place in most national and early-state primary polls. Many Republican voters don’t care about his obvious lack of policy positions. As they see it, he’s speaking truth to power. One telling Bloomberg-sponsored New Hampshire focus group, filled with Trump admirers, said they liked his bluntness, admired his business success, and argued his strong persona is exactly what Washington needs.
Will his momentum last indefinitely? Probably not. It’s telling that of the 10 Trump fans interviewed in the focus group, only two said they were likely to vote for him in the end. It’s more likely that as the primaries draw closer, and voters seriously consider who they’d want to see as president, Trump’s antics will be trumped by someone with a little more governing experience. But his rise, and staying power, underscores just how intense the anti-Washington sentiment is across the country.
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