The second two points bely the first. Trump didn't have to be charismatic to win. He just had to say the right horrible things and hate all the correct people. Which is exactly what he did. He was a dumb, ignorant, loud piece of shit. ALWAYS. Everyone just ignored it because he was rich and powerful. But I don't believe for a second he was ever -charismatic-. Or funny in any meaningful sense beyond 'horrible people will laugh if you say the N word.'
Not sure how in tune either of you are with 2014 Gamergate and that whole culture war, but a large part of the radicalization that Bannon and Yiannapolis exploited involved getting many of the disenfranchised fence sitters or outcast youths from the "Woke/Progression" front to sign up for Trump purely for "The Memes".
He was considered dumb, ignorant, and a loud piece of shit. I remember people didn't even like him. But he was an Outsider. He "spoke his truth". And even the younger progressive activists coming off things like Benghazi and the Middle East and Russia were easily swayed that Obama was a war criminal and Hillary was a crook. They were just as bad as anyone else in power. So Fuck Authority - Do it for the Memes. I was in the mix, and I'm still tallying casualties from that idiocy.
Something I think about from time to time is how much of a non-presence Biden's term was. Coming off of Trump, where our senses were assaulted daily, it was funny at first. Remember Huckabee, Spicer, the... other guy. That rotating clown display of appointees in everything. Then it became noise. But it was still omnipresent.
Biden was quiet. Never really heard anything. What was he even accomplishing? You could say that was normal. I guess Bush had the shoe throw thing, but despite 9/11 (which gave him a focus with the war), he wasn't in the news and loud like Trump. Neither was the Clinton Lewinsky thing. We were used to scandal, but Trump was a special kind of toxic chaos.
And like any relationship, people get normalized and addicted to the chaos. When it's quiet, to healthy people that's normal, that's what you want in your relationships. But people used to stress, abuse, neglect, they start seeing "good behaviour" as questionable for a host of reasons I'm sure Ace could lay out better than I. And I think that's what happened in 2024.
From most of my American contacts, even the ones who didn't vote for him, there was just a sense that Biden was too quiet and didn't accomplish much, and Kamala was just an extension of him. So when the loudmouth asshole comes back and texts "U up?" in their healing era, they couldn't turn down the sheets and unlock the front door fast enough.
Even the conservatives in my family and the ones I've cut as friends, it's my understanding they mistake Trump's daily 24/7 Silent Hill tornado siren of public restroom diarrhea noise as Action. He's talking. He's in the news and people are mad.
He must be doing SOMETHING. And I don't think they truly care what it is, until it's the cold barrel of a gun on their own temple. The Something is better than the perceived Nothing. And of course people are already conditioned from lifetimes of politicking that if someone else you don't like is upset, you must be getting your way.
I had 10 managers in 3 years at TRU. Rotated out for theft, sexual scandals, performance, you name it. What I recall from then, and any job, is when new authority rolls in and starts sweeping changes, there's always assholes that think the very act of doing something is Good. Of course, those people were never really long for the job no matter how much ass they kissed.
