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After a year of laying low following a stunning attack on America’s democracy, Donald Trump has emerged and is back on the rally circuit. One of his most vocal Republican critics, Congressman Adam Kinzinger, says he will fully dedicate himself after his term to trying to mend our toxic political environment. He seems genuinely to want to preserve our democracy and serve all Americans, so I believe he was honestly seeking answers when he recently asked in a Twitter post why the people at Trump’s rallies who know they’re being fed untruths nevertheless cheer him on.
I have read myriad articles since 2016 that have tried to answer this same question. Most go to demographic changes in race, blue-collar underemployment and population loss in rural areas. However, nearly half the population voted for Trump in the last election, and that included plenty of non-white people, urbanites and white-collar workers. The Republican Party literally had no formal policy platform in 2020; Trump’s crowds are not cheering his proposed solutions to make their day-to-day lives better, because his speeches are largely a stream of complaints, real and imagined. People must therefore not be cheering for him or Republicans so much as they are cheering and voting against Democrats.
An organic frozen burrito I bought from Fred Meyer told me I was a hero. It didn’t speak to me, but the wrapper assured me that by eating it, I was saving the planet. That dubious accolade has been taken so far by products like those in Gwyneth Paltrow’s sanctimonious “2022 Detox” line, which includes an $800 pot for growing bean sprouts, that many people get the false message that their choices not only make them pure, but that those who do not follow suit, for whatever reason, are impure.
Many Republican voters from all walks of life seem to be getting the message from the far left and, by association, Democratic candidates, that Democrats look down upon those they view as impure. Where Democrats might be trying to rally us all to try to make things better for everyone, people can hear instead that they are not being sensitive enough, not accepting enough, not considerate enough, not good enough.
Trump tells his crowd at rallies that he loves them and needs them. He tells them they are right and wonderful and that anyone who says otherwise is an overly-sensitive (insert expletive here). And so they cheer. Who wouldn’t cheer for someone who promises to smite those who apparently don’t like you, who constantly criticize you, who seem to have empathy for everyone but you? His fans are being noticed and needed by a charismatic — and to many, charming and funny — famous millionaire.
No one wants to hear that their lover does not actually love them. Trump’s nearly sociopathic faults are on full display and, as Kinzinger acutely pointed out, are well known by everyone, including Trump’s voters. He lies, he steals money, he turns viciously on anyone he deems not to be perfectly loyal, and he cares about himself above all else, to the point that on Jan. 6, he was not horrified by the people being injured and the risk to even his own followers; he instead gleefully marveled at “all those people fighting for (him).” He does not love his followers, but rather loves how they make him feel.
Trump, like my organic burrito, tells people they are needed and good. It feels good for a second to hear it, and there’s truth in it. At their roots, however, both he and the burrito manufacturer mainly want the same things: our loyalty and our money.
Kara Sorbel lives and works in Anchorage with her family.
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