Make them feel pretty again.
It only sounds shrewd because it is. Their targets share many of the same likenesses. They feel forgotten, like they’ve been left out in the cold by those they’ve trusted. Sure, life’s dealt them a tough hand, but they still have their pride. If only someone would realize their worth and give them a chance. Enter the pimp. Enter the Donald.
When Trump announced his 2016 presidential bid, he was roundly scoffed at by the punditry as a buffoon, an act fit for the carnival side stage. But make no mistake: while his statements routinely endanger the collective IQ of the electorate, Trump himself is not an idiot. And he’s no longer a creature of the sideshow—he’s the main event. What were belly laughs by his opponents six months ago are nervous chuckles now.
So how did this happen?
Trump is conniving. He’s manipulative. He understands the game and he knows from whom he can sap support. Equally important, he knows how to convert potential devotees into loyalists.
Surveying the political landscape before running for the GOP nomination, Trump likely saw that there were large swaths of right-leaning voters who felt overlooked. They believed “establishment” Republicans had abandoned them for their more attractive donor-class friends on Wall Street, while Democrats continued their tradition of pandering to dependents of the welfare state.
“Hey! What about us?” is the questioning sentiment shared by those in Trump’s “silent majority.” They’re sick of corporate bailouts. They’re tired of Obamacare’s rising costs. And they mean it when they pump their fists as Trump strides onto the stage to Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” It’s their anthem and he’s their rockstar.
Purist schmurist. To his GOP supporters, it doesn’t matter that Donald Trump was pro-choice until very recently. It also hasn’t caused too much hand-wringing that he previously supported the idea of federally run universal health care. Do his admirers worry about his lengthy history of abusing eminent domain to get preferential (read: crony) government treatment for his business interests? Forget about it.
All that matters to the “silent majority” of Republicans — a plurality, really — is that he’s going to be their protector by keeping jobs here, keeping Mexicans out, and “bomb(ing) the sh*t out” of ISIS.
Any broadside against Trump only cements the allegiance of his backers. An attack against him is an attack against them. Why? Because until Trump came along, they felt like castoffs. He speaks to their deepest needs and gives them a sense of importance. “You are beautiful. You have value,” he tells them. “America lost its greatness because ‘our politicians are stupid’ and they’ve ignored you.” Heads nod, thousands of them, in unison.
But he’s not one of them. He never has been and — come on, people — he never intends to be. He’s simply a showman who perfectly understands political angst. Trump’s more generous critics say he’s “tapping into” widespread frustrations with Washington. That’s one way to put things, but from a different vantage point it looks like he’s playing voters with a pimp’s hand.
This is exploitation in its crudest form.
In 1989, rapper Big Daddy Kane introduced a now-familiar phrase to America’s pop culture lexicon: “Pimpin’ ain’t easy.” Roughly a quarter century later, Donald Trump is proving it might not be so difficult after all.
David Allen Martin is a weekly columnist for Rare.us and Nooga.com. More at http://rare.us/voices/david-allen-martin/
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