This past month, the allegedly distant dream of Donald Trump’s candidacy became an undeniable reality as the New York businessman successfully captured the delegate count to secure the Republican nomination. Since its initial arrival, smiling on a shining escalator, the Trump campaign has drawn millions of voters into the roomy 747 that has graced the tarmacs of so many cities with the banner of “Make America Great Again” proudly welcoming every new patron. Trump has officially arrived.
Also arriving with the candidate’s official win is a timely need for introspection: How did he get here, though so many thought it was laughably improbable? Who has he brought along with him? What, more emphatically, has he brought along with him?
The answers to these questions are colorful. Many say his supporters are bigoted, supremacist or uneducated, but the phenomenon of Trump extends much farther than even his own policies. Indeed, Trump’s attraction runs much deeper than political promises and unprofessional jargon: it is built on empowerment.
Trump’s strategy has been more than just representing his voters’ views — it’s about his ability to boost the confidence of his constituents in their beliefs, praising their decision to support him and giving back some of the power he holds in return.
He does this by repeatedly using the words “strong” and “powerful” in contrast to their opposites of “weak” and “powerless,” especially when making the conventional “us vs. them” dichotomy. The way Trump speaks has always been uncouth, but the full effect of his speech is actually felt by those it superciliously uplifts; not by those it attacks.
And, consequently, voters everywhere love it.
“I like people that want to win,” Trump said at his Eugene rally. “Look at all these strong people out here in the audience.”
As Trump opened his rally, he immediately applauded the strength of his supporters; he began by acknowledging his voters’ power, then shifted the focus of that power towards those who would want to take it away.
When a “heckler” began chanting inside the pavilion, Trump looked at them and changed his train of thought. “I love my hecklers,” he said. “A lot of times you’ll have a heckler no one can hear because they have weak voices, but my people are yelling ‘Here, here, here!’” As the crowd clapped for his vocal compliment, he elected to allow this protester to stay.
The next heckler wasn’t as fortunate. His supporters began shouting and pointed them out for their candidate to give the order of ejection. He did so gleefully with a powerful “Get him out of here,” mockingly saying “Go home to mommy“ as they left. Trump later indulged himself by reciting various histories of his experiences with “hecklers,” even attacking a Hillary speech as having “Weak and pathetic hecklers… I think they were for Bernie. These were meek, mild hecklers,” before recounting his own parse record with protesters.
His rhetoric continued throughout the rally. “Women want strength,” he yelled over the enthusiastic crowd, later in the rally. “We are going to put this country back together.”
These moments made the crowd electric, due to the fact that Trump has grown past the convention of just a politician that makes his voters believe in their politics — he is a figure that is making voters believe in who they are as people. Not only are they Republicans or conservatives but men and women with strong and powerful lifestyles, and, by believing in Trump, they have some power that others simply don’t. Put simply, Trump supporters are elevated past their political label and given characteristics that impact their lives outside of politics.
As Domenico Montanaro from NPR put it, long before Trump’s nomination was guaranteed, “Trump’s supporters aren’t with him because they want to hear the wonky details. They want someone to channel what they feel.”
This power that Trump wields is taking voters outside of Washington, elevating them past the ideal of better institutions and emphasizing their ideal of being a better human being, which is something no other 2016 candidate has done thus far. This is shown in both his rhetoric and the result of it, which has seen an emphasis in racial identity, gender affiliation and physical dominance against those that oppose him. His supporters now feel a new power in who they are and their ability for that power to be felt — they’re a new congregation for the man who loudly proclaimed “I am nothing more than a messenger.”
Trump is very much like a savior to many Republicans. Believing in him not only reinforces what they see as good in the world, but their belief in him gives them strength. He’s against the establishment, like some kind of savior against the pharisaical politicians of old. He’s delivering the country from the partisan bondage of politics to the land of capitalist milk and honey.
Many call him a demagogue, but he is truthfully becoming something more than a demagogue: He is becoming a deity, with powerful and frighteningly enthusiastic followers, and a fixation on his ability to influence others. As his campaign continues, the world is left to see his power shower down on his believers as well, as the new Church of Trump rises against a sea of naïve nonbelievers.
Follow Alec on Twitter @SirAlec_9542