Donald Trump was never smart, politically talented, or good at most of the things a successful politician is supposed to excel at.
What Donald J. Trump always had going in his favor was that he showed a level of commitment to the bit that no other candidate or president has shown.
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Trump’s entire adult life has been built on self-delusion, but what made Trump successful in American politics was his ability to gaslight America into believing that his delusions are fact.
The president has never had an approval rating over 50% with a non-partisan pollster, so it isn’t as if his gaslighting has worked on everyone, but it worked on enough people in a deeply divided country to get him into the White House twice.
One of the main reasons why Trump won in 2024 was that he was able to, through relentless repetition, convince people that he was a good steward of the US economy. The truth always has been that Trump was riding on the fumes of the Obama economy, and he had already steered the country into recession before COVID arrived.
Trump and his reputation for economic competency were bailed out by COVID. Without the pandemic, America would have deepened into recession. Trump wouldn’t have had an excuse, and his career may have ended in 2020.
When Trump returned to office, he faced an angry American public that was upset over costs and inflation. Each of Trump’s moves has made the crisis worse, so the president has continued to try to gaslight America, but it hasn’t worked this time.