Everyone talks about how Trump’s supporters will never abandon him, no matter how often he demonstrates his terrible leadership skills, or regardless of whether most people who work for him end up humiliated, fired, indicted, or quitting because he has the temperament of a spoiled brat whose life has amounted to little more than a string of lawsuits, failed businesses, questionable associates, and mediocre children suckling on the teat of nepotism.
It doesn’t matter that he hasn’t actually fulfilled most of his major campaign promises—he never built the wall, deported all undocumented immigrants, repealed Obamacare, put Hillary in prison, brought back manufacturing jobs on a large scale, or eliminated the federal debt. What matters to his supporters is that they feel like he’s accomplished things, and what you make people feel is often more important than what you actually do for them.
So much of the momentum of Trumpism has nothing to do with achieving discrete conservative goals—it revolves around a culture of shock value, trolling, antagonizing, and “othering” anyone who criticizes them or their president. As far as I can tell, they suppose the real problems in our country stem from people who hate Trump and constantly try to undermine his policies or invent lies about him. I would assert they have the cause and effect relationship backwards—protests, violence, and unrest aren’t the problem eating away at our social contract—they’re a symptom that the social contract is being eroded. But never mind.
Picture a thought experiment where his supporters get exactly what they claim they want. Imagine every Democrat in Congress, every member of the Hollywood elite, and every Jewish billionaire dropped dead tomorrow, or perhaps the majority of Americans who dislike Trump suddenly abandon their entire worldview and understanding of the Constitution and give into the demands of the minority of America who adores him. However it happens, the opposition disappears.
And then they build a “great big beautiful” wall to keep all the immigrants out. They put prayer in schools and outlaw homosexuality and ban abortion and abolish gun laws and cut social programs and save the white suburbs and measure their economic success solely by the stock market, as if they could eat the Dow or live in the NASDAQ. Will they be happy? Will America be great?
I doubt it. Trumpism isn’t a traditional political theory that proposes ideas on how to best preserve the social contract and promote national unity, instead it peddles the concept that liberal elites long ago shattered the social contract by asking us to respect people’s pronouns and implying that maybe not all cops are fair to minorities, and unity can only be restored when all of Trump’s enemies are vanquished. Trumpism requires comic book-esque villains to shape a narrative, a deliberate “us versus them” mentality.
It’s rudimentary, but it’s the backbone of storytelling. What’s more, there will always be enemies. Even if all the BLM protesters or socialists or secularists or feminists evaporated into thin air, they would invent a new enemy to malign. They would have to.
Ever wonder why Batman never defeats the Joker or why a supposedly all-powerful God never settles the score with Satan? Because that would be the end of the plot and you can’t sell comic books or church if you don’t keep the storyline open or at least leave room for a new antagonist.
Similarly, you can’t sell Trumpism without Antifa, migrant caravans, and wildly out-of-context AOC or Greta Thunberg quotes. And so give them an imaginary country completely devoid of never-Trumpers, and the whole movement would disintegrate, either because they would get bored and finally notice the emperor isn't wearing any clothes, or they would turn on each other for lack of an appropriate subject to burn in effigy.
For all the talk of what Trump supporters claim they stand for, the cornerstone of their movement is really best summed up by what they stand against, as evidenced by the “fuck your feelings” t-shirts and the “liberal tears” coffee mugs. Without any obvious enemies to scapegoat, outrage, and oppose, I imagine a good many MAGA believers would find a theoretical Trumpland a pretty far cry from the utopia they yearn for.
Some might argue the Democrats are "just as bad" and all they’ve done these past four years is disparage and try to tear down a president that God himself ordained. Side note—ever notice how Republicans get elected through God’s guiding hand, but any time a Democrat sits in the Oval, it has Satan’s fingerprints all over it?
Anyway, trust me, I’ve spent a lot of time agonizing over the reality that we won’t be a country at peace for a long time. Maybe not ever again. And it’s almost entirely because Trump thrives on sowing discord. Even if Joe Biden wins in November, the MAGA cult won’t just graciously accept defeat and take the advice they gave never-Trumpers in 2016, which was to “suck it up and deal with it, crybabies” because after all "he's the president whether or not you voted for him."
But the thing is, without Trump, Democrats actually DO have a platform, contrary to what right-wing cable news pundits would imply. Most of its objectives have nothing to do with sticking it to Donald Trump, but focus on reducing poverty, improving access to healthcare, and advocating for civil rights.https://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2020-07-31-Democratic-Party-Platform-For-Distribution.pdf
Meanwhile, perhaps nothing supports my argument that all Trump supporters care about is "owning the libs" and generally just doing the opposite of whatever Democrats want than the fact that their 2020 platform is a single page long and literally says “The RNC enthusiastically supports President Trump and continues to reject the policy positions of the Obama-Biden Administration, as well as those espoused by the Democratic National Committee today.” https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/docs/Resolution_Platform_2020.pdf
