Politico leans left, largely unapologetically, and much of their stuff is behind a paywall. In spite of those two drawbacks, today they feature a roundtable of four reporters on the topic “How Donald Trump transformed mass culture” that is both readable and not paywalled. All of it is interesting; here is a bit that especially resonated with me, the speaker is Jessica Piper.
Trump isn’t as culturally toxic as he was the first time around. A common line in the first Trump presidency was that his supporters maybe didn’t like everything he tweeted, but he was good on the economy. But now I think we’re seeing at least a subset of culture that likes — maybe not literally Trump’s posts on Truth Social — but likes his persona, likes that he’s off color. And that’s more accepted.
No kidding. Bill Clinton proved the public forgives a pol who is an affable horndog. If you take Trump “seriously but not literally” and understand him to be one of history’s all-time great “charming rogue” raffish storytellers, what’s not to like?
If Bill Maher ran for office, he might resemble Trump. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) is another wisely droll dude. They share that whiff of show biz that spices the mix, makes them fun.
