Trump and Trumpism

Last week, former President and leading Republican party candidate, Donald Trump was convicted in a civil court of sexual molestation and fined US$5 million. He is now the only presidential candidate to ever have been convicted for grievous sexual misbehavior.

This adds to his well-established reputation as a molester of women, a financial and political fraudster, a liar, cheater, corrupt and antidemocratic politician. 

While it’s true that Mr. Trump poses a threat to American democracy, the problem is not so much in his continued pursuit of political power and his ability to deflect lawsuits, scandal. Instead, the real problem might be found in the loyalty he enjoys from his supporters, the Republican Party, his mastery of social media versus his opponents and finally the legitimization and free media coverage that he enjoys from the profit driven news media. 

To defeat Mr. Trump, these four issues must be addressed -- his loyal followers; the Republican party; social media vs his opponents and the media. 

First, his Republican supporters seem to simply not care. As far as they are concerned, Trump can do no wrong – for this, he is still the leading candidate to win the Republican nomination for president in 2024. 

Second, in the Republican party, other than a few Republican outliers, Republican governors, Members of Congress, and Senators, either embrace Trump’s “values” or are too afraid of his extremist supporters and political strength within the Republican party to speak out against him.

This includes House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is unwilling to sanction those Republicans who break the law or appear to lack the moral and ethical standards to serve in Congress or in the White House.

This loyalty from the party is complemented by those voters on the right who either blindly support Trump or who simply vote for whoever the Republican candidate is. 

Third, Trump’s mastery of social media is second to none. He continues to reach his followers minute by minute on social media, is an expert at deflecting criticism and expounding on his lies that upon repetition become the narrative. He is a master of attack politics.  His Republican and Democrat opponents lack this skill, essential to reach the tens of millions of voters who do not tune into 24/7 news channels.

Trump has been himself throughout the years, denying accusations of malfeasance even in the face of video and audio proof, dividing US society in a way few if any politician has successfully done in the past.

Fourth, the US and international media have done all that they can to keep Trump front and center on a daily basis. 

The latest egregious example of this is CNN’s hosting of a “Town Hall” meeting with Trump in prime time. Trump was successful in getting CNN to invite only Trump supporters to the studio audience and instruct them too only cheers and laugh, but not to boo him. The choice of moderator was poor, not really challenging Trump into a debate on his conviction the previous day in civil court for sexual molestation and aggression. 

While moderator Katie Collins tried to fact check Trump, she was no match for the wily politician. Trump succeeded in expounding lie after lie after making it clear through his verbiage that he doesn’t care being a boldfaced liar since his followers see this as his being a fighter. He doesn’t care about facts when he can ride emotions so successfully. 

And the media continues to provide him with forums where he can continue drumming up support regardless of what he says. His defense: to describe his mediatic enemies as untrustworthy and elitist as he fights for the values of his base – suspicion of the educated, the wise, the truthful, and the “woke” – those who care for racial and social justice and cosmopolitan liberalism that they so despise.   

In an effort to gain viewers and make money, CNN in one fell swoop became what FOX News has been all these years – a shill for Trump. Some might argue that CNN’s strategy was to show the real Trump to those at the center who dislike President Biden or are undecided but watch CNN. 

I don’t believe that CNN succeeded if this was their objective. The amount of negative commentary about CNN’s actions in this regard might drive many of its regular audience to other American cable news outlets, such as MSNBC, who fight the daily fight against Trump. At the very least, it has tarnished CNN’s reputation.

Trump may well be defeated again in 2024 but I believe that Trumpism will continue to be a strong current in Republican circles and among voters even after he leaves the political scene. He has unleashed a force that will likely continue to divide that party and the United States.

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Keep reading: Towards A New Banana Republic?

 Edition: Estefanía Cardeña