In advertising one of the best things a company can do to generate consumer interest is to get the general idea of what their product is clear to the consumer, but also keeping the details obscure enough that people can fill in the blanks of what the product exactly is with their own idealistic fits — leading them to take action to buy the product.
I’ve tried very hard to not write a knee-jerk reaction to the election results, but it seemed like everyone else in the world had some opinion on the surprising news of a Donald Trump presidency and I’ve thought about it probably way too much for a healthy person.
Donald Trump’s rhetoric — whether you like it or not — is extreme and very openly discriminatory.
Donald Trump is also a media genius that is a master manipulator. He essentially used his celebrity apprentice persona to win the most important office on the planet. It was not his policies that won — because most are so vague, or he has said so many things that whichever ones you agree with are the ones you’ll re-post. (I’ve literally just saw three posts shared on facebook in a row all saying different things about Donald Trump’s healthcare plan. I’ve seen similar stuff with his attitudes on LGBT rights. The reality is nobody knows his plans.)
Trump used both his open-endedness, and a slogan and campaign as good as Obama’s was in 2008 to generate general excitement for him and to create an extremely dedicated base of support. Also, positioning himself against the common complaint of almost all Americans — that the government is corrupt and there’s nothing we can do about it. He promises an outsider perspective to get congress and the senate to take action and if they don’t there would be actual consequences. À la “Drain the Swamp.” What his plan is to get congress and the senate to actually take action? I don’t know.
He does not have a lot of support and an entire country behind him right now. He got less votes than either even Romney in 2012 or McCain in 2008. Clinton lost this election more than Trump won. Mostly because she is not seen as a leader, and was often smug or very dismissive to her opponents throughout the race. Clinton is mired in the idea of “more of the same.” The same thing all Americans are often tired of. (A huge part of me is so incredibly curious to see how the election and debates would have been if Bernie Sanders had won the DNC nomination — especially when you consider he’s not even a democrat, but rather a progressive independent.)
But Trump has the most dedicated supporters right now, because he essentially narrowcasted himself to the American public rather than trying to appeal to a bigger, less passionate moderate audience. He double downed and never apologized. He was a symbol of strength and leadership. For about 20 million people he was seen as a symbol of salvation.
When Donald Trump says he could walk down fifth ave and shoot someone and still have his base supporters — he’s not really exaggerating by much.
His celebrity recognition helps a bunch and his “superstar” power is on the same level as Obama’s was in 2008, or to a lesser extent: Sarah Palin’s. He is inspirational to many people with the idea that he can restore the country to a nostalgic greatness. Part of me wants some form of global social cohesion, but I have completely resigned to any idea that that might happen in the next four years. America comes first in Trump’s America.
But Donald Trump is a leader.
He isn’t a leader I agree with it. In fact I think his words are almost cruel to nearly every minority group that exists. But he inspires the same thing Obama did. Hope.
He is openly racist and extremely discriminatory, and it concerns me that people can look past that with such ease… but I get it. Being a leader is really the most important thing to be president. Hell, even George Washington was a dumbass and awful general, but he was a leader that could inspire people and surrounded himself with good diversely opinionated people.
It’s a bit disconcerting to me though that people defend Trump with the idea that “he doesn’t mean everything he says.” That’s not something to rally behind for minority groups. That’s something to be afraid of. That’s why people protest. That’s why there is so much more fear in people right now.
The “die-hard” (I feel so weird talking about this in the same vain as sports) Donald Trump supporters need to openly take a stand out against the more extreme rhetoric like putting all Muslims on a registry, removing federal LGBT rights protection, punishing women for abortion, and instituting national stop and frisk policies. These types of things lead to the dehumanization of peoples and the promotion of hateful ideologies. Being able to love the people you don’t know personally is, to me, an important barometer for morality.
To be honest, most Trump supporters have made it very clear to me that they don’t care about social issues anyway though. Economy and breaking the standard government system that has been on repeat forever are his strong points.
Donald Trump will need to earn my respect by his actions now. Because his words have warranted very little respect. I can very much understand the #NotMyPresident protests. Because, well, he only really dominated support of one demographic of people and ostracized the others. In fact, I’m really quite happy to see people show such a prominent damnation of the ideas that many people worry could harm everyday people.
I would be upset if people weren’t offended by him saying he sexually assaults women or that women need to be punished for their own healthcare or that he doesn’t support gay marriage. These are common social ideals for modern America and anyone challenging them should be criticized heavily.
But I will support him. His success is all of our success. The United States’ president is the closest thing we have to a global leader, and I hope he is ready for everyone on this planet to look to him in times of global crisis.