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Declining American Democracy: Trump is a Symptom, Not the Cause
(paulkrugman.substack.com)
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this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2025
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politics
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I think the cult just likes that he allows them to be their worst selves. After being told for years that they are bad for being racist, sexist bigots finally some powerful person who is all those things becomes president and so they feel justified in being the awful humans they are.
That, and he doesn‘t make them feel stupid.
There‘s a lot of power in telling people „yes, you can say that out loud now“. But there‘s also a lot of power in not playing the same game as anybody else. There‘s power in being the guy who doesn‘t watch what he says because he‘s a politician.
Here in the UK we have a similar politician in Nigel Farage - far right, and very much able to speak to people on the level of „I‘m not like all those stuffy politicians, I‘m an ordinary bloke just like you“.
It‘s not true for him, either, and I find him equally repulsive, but I can‘t deny that they‘re both effective at making people think „he‘s one of us!“ And it‘s not that other politicians don‘t try, at least here in the UK, which is why you‘ll find endless photo opportunities of them doing things like drinking a pint in a pub. But those always seem fake and hollow.
I see Farage and Trump described as „charismatic“. I don‘t think that‘s quite the right word, because that suggests a sort of charm, I think. But I can understand on an intellectual level why some people find them appealing.