For the better part of a decade nothing in American politics has been more difficult to fathom than the dedication of Trump’s followers. A dedication and often even a passion that has endured against what would seem all odds. Donald J. Trump’s attractions are not, obviously, difficult for everyone to understand, but they are for most. For most Democrats certainly, and for many Republicans.
In theory, Trump should have been dropped from political contention years ago. It’s not even apparent what made him a viable political candidate in the first place. For the American presidency no less. In 2015, when he first declared that he was running for the White House, he seemed to come out of nowhere. Trump had never held any political office. Trump had never had any government experience. And Trump had never served in the military. What he was instead was a New York City real estate developer, a television reality star, and a self-promoting gadabout who liked nothing so much as boasting about his billions and hanging out with the young and beautiful, the rich and famous.
But from the start candidate Trump was an astonishment. His showmanship and bombast were not only not off-putting, but they were immensely appealing. As reporter Tim Alberta wrote at the time, “He was a larger-than-life character, someone with whom Americans of all ages had become familiar…. He was universally recognized and increasingly on the right, seen as a kindred spirit, his rants against political correctness resonating more with each passing day.” Trump was, let’s face it. a political star from the start. When he shouted at the crowd, “We Can Make this Country Great Again,” they hooted and hollered in response, their boisterous support for the man and his message rang through the room.
What has changed since then, since Trump’s earliest days in the political ring? Not much. Just further evidence that despite who he was and is, despite what he did and did not do, large numbers of his followers remain as devoted as dedicated. They remain so notwithstanding that during his four years in office the Republicans lost control of the presidency, the Senate and the House; that he failed to deliver on what he promised would be a string of Republican victories in the 2022 midterms; and that in the last year he was charged with fully 91 felonies in four different criminal cases. Still, if his followers judge him, they forgive him. Either they genuinely adore him, or they go along to get along.
This distinction is key. While we tend think of every Trump supporter as motivated by the same things in the same way, they are not. Those who follow Trump because they love him are an entirely different type from those who follow him because they assess it is in their interest to do so. It’s often said about Trump that his followers constitute a cult. Arguably, some do. But by no means all. Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy who decried Trump in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th insurrection, and then in short order flew to Florida to kiss his ring, did an about face not because he changed his mind about the man but because he thought the better of making the man his enemy.
This is the first in a series of posts about Trump’s followers – who I divide into two categories. The first is Trump’s tribe. The second is Trump’s team. Trump’s tribe is comprised of those who make up his base. Ordinary people who continue to see Trump as their tribune – and to see in him them. Trump’s team consists of other key supporters such as elected officials; political appointees; hirelings and underlings; media stalwarts; right-wing idealogues; and deep-pocketed Republican Party funders.
As is well known by now, a good many members of Trump’s team regard him with disdain and even disgust, they see him as stupid as well as crude. But here’s the thing: so long as his base continues so ardently and abjectly to be in Trump’s thrall, so will they. In this sense Trump’s political magic act is so remarkable not because it works with the Republican elite but because it works, brilliantly, with the Republican base. On the surface, then, Trump’s base consists of his most impassioned followers. But the truth is that they are the leaders. If Trump’s repeat candidacy for the presidency has brought American democracy to the precipice, it is they who have led us there.