How Trump Hypnotized 73 Million Americans
By: Sid Gundapaneni
Tags: Analysis, Trump, Politics

Trump rarely has small showings at his rallies due to the loyalty of his varying bases, something he often boasts.

Mesmerizing a crowd is a skill many wish to have. Some might say it’s not something one can learn; some have the skill, some don’t. Trump has mastered it. Everyone talks about the immense partisan divide in this country, but why does it exist? And no, Trump is not the answer. Look further than that. Why did millions of highly educated individuals support Trump, despite being what some would call a criminal, the worst person to handle COVID, and even the worst president ever? How did he manage to allure the most staunch Tea Party conservatives despite being a registered Democrat for 8 years and part of the Reform Party for 2 years?

Let’s go from the start of his campaign. Contrary to popular opinion, each rhetorical approach Trump has used has been carefully thought out in order to garner the support of different voting blocs by speaking to their needs. From 2009–2017, Barack Obama was President of the United States. In 2 of those years, Democrats had control of the House and Senate, basically nullifying the voices of Republicans. For the most part during Obama’s presidency, conservatives didn’t have the say in government they wished they did, leading to Democrats having free rein and allowing them to pass bills like Obamacare. Even during George W. Bush’s tenure from 2001–2009, he was a Republican that lowered taxes and had right-wing economic policies, but he didn’t pay attention to the paleo-conservatives. His father, George H.W. Bush also made many similar compromises in order to get Bills passed through Democrat-controlled Congresses. So, paleo-conservatives would be largely unhappy in comparison to most Americans who were genuinely happy with progress made during the past 16 years. Which is why the phrase “Make America Great Again,” coined by President Reagan but made famous by President Trump, resonated so strongly with the demographic of social conservatives. The “build the wall” fiasco had a very similar impact, as oftentimes paleo-conservatives aren’t the most immigrant-friendly individuals. Furthermore, many of them are in either agricultural or manufacturing sectors of labor; both of which have had mass job losses throughout the country due to either lowered demand or companies moving overseas. Therefore, much of that demographic easily believed the rhetoric Trump used when he would repeatedly claim that immigrants are stealing American jobs. After numerous other stints similar to those aforementioned, Trump had secured that demographic of voters. He then moved to the next voting bloc.

There is a large population living in Florida, a key swing state, that recently moved from Cuba. Since 1965, Cuba has been under communist, authoritarian rule and most of those who left the country to come to America left to escape said regime. For the months leading up to the 2020 Presidential debates, one of Trump’s main agendas was to tie Biden to the communist party. While most politically aware individuals know that Biden is far from a socialist (much to many Progressives’ dismay), Trump still tried to categorize him with Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist. Biden being a big government, left-leaning candidate; paired with Trump designating Biden a socialist, gave many Cubans flashbacks of the terror they had worked so hard to escape. And unfortunately, people’s minds are often more powerful than facts themselves. Trump’s psychology of repeatedly speaking things into existence has seemingly worked, as Trump did incredibly well with Hispanic voters across the country this election in comparison to his 2016 campaign.

Trump has also enraptured a very large part of the suburban woman demographic. More often than not, suburban women are educated. Trump has infamously made numerous lewd comments about women, as linked here (some are better left not repeated). Yet, despite such comments, that group flocks towards him still. Trump’s constant mockery of low-income housing genuinely scares many people. While most democrats say they support low-income housing, many do not want it in their own neighborhoods. Trump has reminded millions of individuals what the results of said projects would incur, and as hypocritical as it may be, that seriously hits home to many suburban women who do not want their neighborhoods changed or devalued.

And finally, as most Republicans do, Trump did very well with the elitist populations of America. 54% of Americans who make over $100,000 voted for Trump, in comparison to 43% for Biden in 2020. This can simply be accredited to his substantial corporate tax cuts from 35% to 21%, and lowering 4 of the top 5 income tax brackets’ rates as well.

At the end of the day we cannot blame Trump for simply playing politics. What we can do is examine how a multi-billionaire from New York made most of the deep south feel Trump cares about people like them, as shown in an exit poll done by The New York Times. The richest president in U.S. history used populism to relate to all different types of people who had no business supporting him. In 2016, Trump had won the elitist populations in America, but also the poorest and most uneducated. The past two elections have set the precedent for populism over policy and is something we should all keep in mind, due to the ever-changing dynamic of politics. It’s important voters understand how and why their leaders are getting elected, and whether they tolerate said practices or seek change.