General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat is it about Donald J. Trump?
He's a buffoon, a caricature of a self-made man, a fraud in every sense of the word. He's a liar, a cheat, a cardboard persona. He's corrupt to the bottom of his mean, shriveled, little heart. So what is it that makes millions of people willing to follow him to the gates of hell or into an insurrection against their own country?
In a word, the "Media". He is a media made creature. He is fake. He is make believe. He is not real. For decades he put himself in the papers calling in scoops about Mr. Trump as the fictional "John Barron". Then came the Apprentice. That piece of garbage ran for 15 seasons. Fifteen years of the 'fake' billionaire making deals and firing people on television. The big man with the big jet, the beautiful women, and the golden palace in Trump Tower. Oh, to be him or the woman with him, his ardent watchers thought.
All the while he's scamming everyone he comes in contact with: contractors, vendors, employees, customers. He's playing 'find the money' with the IRS, and making deals with Russian oligarchs awash in cash. And isn't he fortunate that every AG anywhere in New York (until recently) can't seem to find any crimes to charge him with?
Then, for reasons still not fully known, he decides to slither down his golden escalator for a run for President of the United States, and to his surprise and the world's chagrin, the lying, cheating, corrupt buffoon 'wins'. Then the crimes really begin. He couldn't help himself, there was a smorgasbord of stuff to steal, so many corrupt deals to be made. Money flowed into his golden coffers.
He didn't want it to ever end. And that is when he decided that he would be President Forever.
yankee87
(2,181 posts)Ill never understand. The two things that come to mind is: he hates the same people they do and sticks it to the libs. The other is, people will vote for their team no matter what.
brush
(53,924 posts)Last edited Mon Aug 22, 2022, 05:20 PM - Edit history (1)
burnished his image and falsely portrayed him as a successful, business genius to millions of viewers. They ran for several seasons and boosted trump's popularity and probably had much to do with him getting into politics.
Many of the magats still believe the hype.
Rebl2
(13,575 posts)his shows. Hes been a horrible person at least since the eighties.
brush
(53,924 posts)He never wins NY in elections because we know what a phony and unsuccessful business man he was/is. Millions of impressionable viewers from around the country did watch the shows however.
Solomon
(12,319 posts)Something that never appealed to me.
Didnt watch when it Martha had a spin off and then someone else took over I think when tfg was running for prez. Dont like that ABC show shark tank either.
ShazzieB
(16,561 posts)There are lots of other good and accurate answers in these comments, but I think the Apprentice TV shows were the springboard. By building up his (false) image of being such a brilliantly successful businessman, those shows created a receptive audience for his claims that he knew how to "make America great again," as well as a perception that he would be a strong leader.
Of course, that didn't work on everybody, and it was completely lost on people who never watched the show, but it made a lot of people more willing to listen to what he had to say than they would have been otherwise. And enough of those people recognized their own concerns and their own hatred for certain groups of people in him to get the ball rolling. His "tough guy" persona and willingness to say exactly what he felt like saying, no matter how rude, crude, and downright cruel, were also qualities that appealed greatly to some voters.
In short, his "appeal" to a certain segment of the voters is due to a complex combination of factors, but the TV shows paved the way by creating a fallacious image of power, savvy, and competence for him.
allegorical oracle
(2,357 posts)(barely) celebrity teams were always tasked to come up with a sales plan for a trump product. Self-serving always.
BlueGreenLady
(2,824 posts)Germans to Hitler. Racial purity, Nationalism, and fear of anything progressive or different. It's the fear of their isolationist, white bubble being popped.
Response to Joinfortmill (Original post)
Baked Potato This message was self-deleted by its author.
raging moderate
(4,311 posts)Many times, Trumpers have posted on Facebook that Trump is not part of the lying elite rich class, but a regular honest guy who has built his fortune up from nothing, so he tells it like it is. Or words to that effect. They also think Trump did not get paid a dime but actually worked for free during his time in the White House.
Response to raging moderate (Reply #6)
Baked Potato This message was self-deleted by its author.
Mariana
(14,861 posts)unblock
(52,384 posts)the incompetence, evil, and criminality actually work to enhance the privilege aspect.
*everything* he has and *everything* he achieved, he owes to privilege. the *only* thing he's good at is leveraging and enforcing his own privilege. he certainly didn't *earn* or *merit* anything he has.
his followers love the idea of a hierarchy in which they're not the bottom rung. no matter what their lot in life is, if they're white, he makes them feel superior to blacks. if they're men, he makes them feel superior to women. etc.
they love him because for him it's not just words. he embodies every aspect of that hierarchy and privilege. everything he says and does reinforces that hierarchy or leverages it for his own benefit.
so for his followers, they see him as the genuine article. he ticks all the boxes of privilege, he espouses privilege, and he wields power based on privilege. to them, he's the *perfect* example of that vision of a hierarchical society that makes them feel a notch above some other people.
the fact that this is an entirely evil vision, of course, doesn't compute for them, because they're surrounded by like-minded people who feel a similar benefit from this hierarchy. and the fact that eventually, that same hierarchy will turn on them is something that will never occur to them
happy feet
(872 posts)A different perspective which makes perfect sense. Explains why they're not bothered by his incompetence and record of failures.
ultralite001
(894 posts)That is all...
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)YoshidaYui
(41,867 posts)Loser.
MontanaMama
(23,352 posts)to be ugly, hateful and mean. They've been looking for an excuse to behave horribly and he's given it to them. They've got an inferiority complex that has crippled their brains...deep down they know they've got nothing to offer humanity so they've decided to burn it all down.
RedSpartan
(1,693 posts)MontanaMama
(23,352 posts)Maybe theyre related to my brother in law and his evil spawn?
RainCaster
(10,928 posts)He said everything the bigots were afraid to say.
erronis
(15,382 posts)Not holding my breath however.
I do think that these recitations are useful for some who have vacillated about believing their eyes/ears and believing the carney shouter.
DemUnleashed
(633 posts)He portrayed himself as a racist, bigot, homophobe...that was enough to get the Deplorables on board!
What about the "sane" Republicans?? All I can think is that if they only watch Fox News, Newsmax, OAN etc, and they are just too mind-boggling dumb to have their own thoughts and become Right Wing media sheep!!
H2O Man
(73,637 posts)I'd start with his face. His face bugs me. He has the eyes of a reptile.
Initech
(100,108 posts)"Gluttonous adulterer who watches Fox News popular with gluttonous adulterers who watch Fox News."
Maybe that explains his popularity? Otherwise I don't get why people love and worship this guy either.
TlalocW
(15,392 posts)But they still tended to talk in code words. Trump opened the floodgates and encouraged them to be open with their hatred.
allegorical oracle
(2,357 posts)-- the Millenium. A group of now-trumpsters decided that "city" folks were going to travel to our area, kill us, and steal the food in our freezers. Why? Because their stores would be empty due to the Millenium. These nutbags began building wooden barriers to block the main federal highway through our county. It was to be manned by these armed jerks for the 24 hours of the Millenium. They never did it. But that's when I witnessed the launch of crazy that continues. A shrink would have a field day, here.
LeftInTX
(25,607 posts)Kid Berwyn
(14,991 posts)At NBC and CNN, Zucker was key to Trumps rise
by Eric Alterman
The American Prospect / Altercation, Feb. 3, 2022
I have to say Im amused by all the crocodile tears being shed for Jeff Zuckers forced resignation from CNN. Obviously, he is gone for reasons other than the ones being given; that was a slap-on-the-wrist sort of violation for a network president. (My out-of-the-bleachers guess would be that it is directly related to Chris Cuomos suit against CNN.) CNN whiners should be ashamed of themselves for defending him. Yes, hes not as bad as the criminal whorehouse operator, Roger Ailes. (Thats how they get you: "Defining Deviancy Down" ) But his reign at CNN had one crucial world historical impact: the promotion of Donald Trump and his brand of entertaining fascism to the U.S. and the world. As for CNN, it was the networks refusal to distinguish between what its journalists know to be true and what they know to be a lie for the benefit of those who depend on it for news.
The following paragraph is drawn from my 2020 book Lying in State: Why Presidents Lieand Why Trump Is Worse:
Trumps fame was mostly confined to Manhattan-based gossip writers and broadcasters until 2004, when he teamed up with the television producer Mark Burnett to create The Apprentice. Jeff Zucker, an NBC executive who later moved on to CNN in time for the 2016 campaign, gave the program the green light. "The show was built as a virtually nonstop advertisement for the Trump empire and lifestyle," according to a 2016 Trump biography. Naturally, it was a lie from start to finish. The Apprentice was filmed in his offices in Trump Tower, but, as one of the shows producers told a reporter from The New Yorker, "We walked through the offices and saw chipped furniture. We saw a crumbling empire at every turn. Our job was to make it seem otherwise." According to a supervising editor on the show, the producers "first priority on every episode was to reverse-engineer the show to make it look like his judgment had some basis in reality."
Trump entered the presidential race in November 2015 at a moment when the always tenuous line between "entertainment" and politics was rapidly and purposely being erased. And it was around this time that the same Jeff Zucker landed the top job at CNN. "The idea that politics is sport is undeniable, and we understood that and approached it that way," he told a reporter. And just as sports broadcasters hire hosts who can make boring games sound interesting, and keep the audience entertained regardless of their level of expertise, so, too, Zucker chose pundits with no discernible qualifications save their willingness to sing the praises of Donald Trump. He hired Jeffrey Lord, a journeyman conservative author who repeatedly compared Trump to Martin Luther King Jr., and Kayleigh McEnany, an attractive young law student who consistently argued that Trump "doesnt lie," but that instead, "the press lies." (McEnany was rewarded for these arguments with an appointment in 2017 as the Republican National Committee spokesperson, and, two years later, for the same position in Trumps 2020 re-election campaign, before becoming Trumps presidential press secretary, also in 2020.) According to Zuckers preferred metric, these hires were more than justified. "Everybody says, Oh, I cant believe you have Jeffrey Lord or Kayleigh McEnany," he said. "But you know what? They dont know who Jeffrey Lord and Kayleigh McEnany are"as if this somehow justified their lies and the lunatic conspiracy theories they passed along to viewers.
Zucker even proved willing to hire Trumps former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, in June 2016, not long after an incident in which Lewandowski was charged with misdemeanor battery following his physical attack on a female reporter whose question he did not like. (The charges were later dropped, though not before Lewandowski was accused by another Trump supporter of sexual assault.) Lewandowski had lost an internal power struggle within the Trump campaign, and with it his job. Such a hire would not normally be considered unusual in the incestuous world of cable TV commentary, but in this case, Lewandowski had signed a nondisclosure agreement that contained a nondisparagement clause before leaving the campaign. That meant he was legally enjoined from saying anything that might reflect badly on Trumpeven if it was truthful. Zucker did not care. Truth was not the metric: Ratings were. (In September 2019, Lewandowski testified before the House Judiciary Committee investigating impeachment and admitted, "I have no obligation to be honest to the media because theyre just as dishonest as anybody else." He was booked on CNN that same night.)
Owing to the strong ratings that Trump-themed programming earned the network during the election season, Zucker constantly pressured his staff to keep the focus on Trumps campaign. CNN was happy to broadcast the candidates lies unmediated and uninterrupted, whether they were offered on the phone, in live interviews, or during rallies. According to the nonpartisan fact-checking site PolitiFact, which investigated 158 statements Trump had made on the campaign trail before June 2016, 78 percent of those statements were false, mostly false, or "pants on fire." Only about 3 percent of the statements it investigated were judged to be entirely true. The other 19 percent were half true or mostly true.
Continues
https://americanprospect.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=ab1a4d0dd4d48a2ba1077c4494791306.1331&s=bb6bef2a4b7e3fbe7fcc8d721fca4907
Mass Trumpnosis. Trickle Down economics continues. And the rich get richer and the middle class recedes inexorably toward oblivion.
Emile
(23,024 posts)wanted someone that would go to Washington and shake things up. That's what my right-wing neighbor told me.