Some say that the problem was the quality of his opposition. But Ted Cruz was surely right-wing enough to rally conservatives and John Kasich pragmatic enough to attract moderates. Trump supporters consistently said that they were voting for the person they thought could win. A plurality, perhaps even a majority of Republican voters seem to believe that Donald Trump is a strong candidate.
Trump helped himself, of course. He proved brilliant at dominating the media: he was, in many ways, an old fashioned TV candidate. He was also relentlessly positive: the living incarnation of one of those “think yourself thin” books. After every victory, even the odd defeat, he would assert that he was doing great, he was huge and he just loved whatever state was coming up next. And it worked. He willed his own victory. It was very Nietzschean. His H-bomb stump style was destined either to fail horribly or succeed miraculously. It did the latter. And we mustn’t dismiss the possibility that it succeeded because people thought he was right about a lot of things he said. Maybe this isn’t America’s “fascist moment”. Maybe folks are just tired of stagnant wages, rising costs of living and the narrative of decline?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member