Donald Trump won in 2016 because he could pinpoint an issue in voter psychology: that America was not a fraction of its former self (which was true) and that HE could (narcissistically) make it “great again!”
This message appealed to millions, quite likely because nostalgia is easy to tap into and his message was ambiguous enough.
Was he bringing American greatness back to the 1950s and traditional “American values?” Unknown.
How about to the roaring 20s and its ecooomic boom? Not sure.
Or just make America better than it was under Obama? Perhaps.
The brilliance of the message was in its ambiguity.
The reason a Trump win in 2024 is very unlikely is because now he must (by virtue of his ego and his brand) gaslight the entire country into somehow believing that America during his presidency WAS better—that he made it great again!
The problem with this should be obvious. It wasn’t. Despite what Orwell would insist, I believe 4 years ago isn’t that long ago for an entire populace to have collective amnesia.
The following are FACTS. These things happened under President Trump. He can’t rewrite history:
1) TRUMP locked millions of people in their homes and called it a “national lockdown” and his administration worked with the media outlets and put pressure on social media companies to implement draconian & literally totalitarian policies. Propaganda like “lockdowns save lives” and “2 weeks to lower the curve” were ubiquitous. TRUMP did that. Trump locked free Americans in their homes. That is unforgivable!
2) TRUMP hired Anthony “TruthScience” Fauci to his Covid task force. And then sat back and watched him lockdown thanksgiving, Christmas, beaches, libraries, close churches, and completely destroy the civil liberties of Americans. TRUMP hired him to run this task force. And TRUMP never fired him. TRUMP never fired Fauci.
3) TRUMP fast-tracked dangerous Covid-19 vaccines under his “Warpspeed” program. He shortcut FDA guidelines and human trials that normally would take years. TRUMP pushed out the Covid-19 vaccine.
4) TRUMP introduced the Trump Covid Vaccine to millions of Americans and then forced people to take them. TRUMP implemented the largest propaganda campaign in human history around taking the jab. This campaign used all the fanatical tactics in the book: fear, compensation, and finally compulsion—forcing all military personnel to get jabbed with an experimental vaccine or face being fired. Trump turned family and friends against each other by spending billions and pushing the media to effect a fearmongering campaign turning brother against brother and father against son. TRUMP divided the country with his Covid propaganda campaign.
5) TRUMP supported the state governors who, by fiat and executive order, became tyrants in their respective states and locked down their states, implemented vaccine mandates, and state wide mask mandates. TRUMP supported these governors and did not publicly decry the civil right violations happening in almost every us state.
6) TRUMP grew the size of the federal government by an entire order of magnitude. His “CARES Act” alone added $2.2T to the national debt, skyrocketed inflation, and put America in a fiscal hole in may never climb out of. TRUMP single handedly became the most Socialist president in history when he signed the CARES Act.
7) TRUMP doled out trillions in corporate welfare via the PPP program, giving billions of dollars to millionaires and billionaires who didn’t need it. TRUMP is the objectively the most socialist president for what he did in 2020 alone. TRUMP is a socialist, but every known definition.
I could go on, but these 7 reasons should be all that’s needed to demonstrate that Trump didn’t make America Great. He didn’t even improve America one bit.
Trump made America a bigger debtor country than ever. Trump increased the amount of socialism America bathes in. Trump increased the size of government by a factor of almost 10. Trump increased the inflation (which we are now feeling). Trump locked down Americans in their home. Trump pushed Americans to get his trump vaxx.
There isn’t enough collective amnesia to cover over trump’s sins to make a 2024 win possible.
