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I've been thinking about why some people are terrified of Trump while others, like me, are more indifferent. I mostly tune out Trump news because I assume much of it involves scare tactics or misleading framing by his detractors. When my wife brings up concerns about his supposedly authoritarian actions, my general response is that if what he's doing is illegal, the governmental process will handle it - and if it's legal, then that's how the system is supposed to work. I have faith that our institutions have the checks and balances to deal with any presidential overreach appropriately.
This reminded me of a mirror situation during 2020-2021 with the BLM movement, where our positions were reversed. I was deeply concerned about social media mobs pressuring corporations, governments, and individuals to conform under threat of job loss, boycotts, and riots, while my wife thought these social pressures were justified and would naturally self-correct if they went too far. The key difference I see is that the government has built-in checks and balances designed to prevent abuse of power, while social movements and mob pressure operate without those same institutional restraints. It seems like we each trust different institutional mechanisms, but I can't help but think that formal governmental processes with built-in restraints are more reliable than grassroots social pressure that operates without those same safeguards. Furthermore, the media seems incentivized to amplify fear about Trump but not about grassroots social movements - Trump generates clicks and outrage regardless of which side you're on, while criticizing social movements risks alienating the platforms' own user base and advertiser-friendly demographics.
I think everyone here is putting far too much thought into this. The well-to-do hate and fear Trump for the same reason that others love him: because he’s been spamming I AM YOUR OUTGROUP signals at them ever since he rode up a golden escalator and announced that Mexicans coming over the border were largely rapists and thugs, and nobody has been able to nobble him for it.
Their hatred legitimizes him to his base. They can't trust politicians who lie to them, but they can trust the guy with a hundred felony counts and a bullet hole in his ear to not swap sides. Trump elicits these responses because the one thing his people need to be sure of is that he's not The Elites' Guy. Luckily for Trump, our elites are stupid and their culture makes no distinction between Hitler Hisself and someone who wants a border.
The funny thing is that Trump is very much elite, just not the DC political elite, which is good enough for his voters.
Leaders are almost always elites. You need to get your shit and run if a former bank robber or army corporal takes over the government.
What's interesting to me is how far down the elite governance scale Republicans had to go to find someone who would fight. Whole goddamned party, not one set of nuts between them. Turns out, only Democrats are willing to fight Democrats, the Republican establishment has completely internalized its social position as the Washington Generals of politics.
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