Among other factors, I think humans have a certain instinctive drive: when there’s a broad sense of social malaise—when lots of people feel there’s something wrong with their social institutions, but there’s no consensus on how to remedy it—they gravitate toward whatever thing the social establishment seems most afraid of, because in our deep history that’s been an effective way to break out of dangerous institutional stasis.

Depending on the social establishment at the time, that anti-establishment movement could take many forms—religious, ideological, nationalistic, etc. So I think Trumpism is an inevitable reaction to the rise of the neoliberal establishment under Clinton and the Bushes: the underlying cause of the neoliberal malaise is economic, but the most visible social anxieties are over racism, sexism, and other social factors. So that creates a feedback loop of growing fear that attracts those feeling a general sense of discontent.

American politics has been described as a two party system, but it is really a one and a half party system. One party creates a winning political coalition while the minority party has to deal with the remains. Sometimes the minority party wins major elections, but it is generally rare.

There are two ways the parties shift or reorganize.

The first is when one party collapses. Most recent examples were Republicans in 1932 and Democrats in 1968. The majority party messes up so much that it is blatantly apparent that they aren't going to win elections any more and the transfer of power is rather peaceful.

The second is due to mainly demographic change as the majoriry party becomes the minority party. This is generally more risky for democracies as the shift is gradual and there isn't a firm reason parties to switch. There is also more electoral chaos as votes are a lot closer.

One example was the Election of 1800, where Southern and Westward expansion in the country had led Jefferson and Burr to beat Adams, but then there was a stalemate on who would be picked. While a political solution was found in the end, militias were being drawn up and there was a growing threat of civil war.

The second example was the Civil War. While Lincoln won a minority of votes, it was apparent that future elections would likely be won by the party of thr North due to increasing immigration.

It seems like Trump is tapping into this demographic fear. More educated voters vote Democratic and the populace is becoming more educated. Outside of Florida, it appears that voters are choosing to move to Republican Sun belt states and voting Democrat. What was thought of as a party collapse in 2008 is turning out to be a demographic shift instead. So, the former dominant party is fighting back to delay or prevent the shift.

Half the population is below average IQ and will listen to whoever screams the loudest. That's a gross simplification but basically what's going on. People with low IQ do not have logical reasoning.

My thinking is this:

• 1/3 of people are actually stupid
• 1/3 of people are good
• 1/3 of people are evil

Trump taps into dumb and evil.

Vast inequality in a society built upon a white supremacist/patriarchal power structure.

Tldr: The media attacked him, turned him into a symbol of unhappiness.

America isn't doing so great. Unemployment is high, inflation is spiraling out of control, wild habitats are being bulldozed, hell it's getting hard to put food on the table.

I think even lemmy can agree that the economy isn't doing so well.

Back in the 80s, we had factories, with unions. NAFTA decided that America should send most of our factories to Mexico and beyond. Immigration went up, importing cheap labor, basically scabs.

The Democrats, who claimed to be for the common worker, made a farce of it, saying "they took our jobs" was racist. And you know what, those jobs weren't stolen, there were given away.

Every year, year after year, it gets worse. Politicians on both sides are lying to our faces and won't do jack shit to bring in tariffs or lower immigration.

Then comes Trump. He's a fucking scumbag just like every other politician, but at least he attempts to pander to the millions affected. And then the media started attacking him.

This just made him look like someone who might actually be on our side. Sure, he might fuck over every other country, but God damn it, America comes first, not Mexico, not China, not the EU, America comes first.