What if it was more than “It’s the economy, stupid”?

Casting about for an explanation for the nonpareil political comeback of President-elect Donald Trump, some of the more pragmatic and rational-minded talking heads have decided to take a page from the greatest hits of James Carville: Trump’s imminent return to the White House, they surmise, can be attributed to what ordinary Americans perceive as poor economic conditions.

Undeniably, voter woe over out-of-sight inflation played an outsize role in the Trump comeback, but does it tell the full story? Is it not too neat and tidy—not to mention too flattering of Trump’s adversaries—to attribute this triumph strictly to the rising cost of eggs? After all, the argument that economic self-interest produced the results of Tuesday’s election preserves the underlying and unchanging far-left case against the former and future president: that he is evil. Thus, only something as plaintive as Americans being unable to afford the necessities of life could induce them to vote for such an evil man.

In this scenario, the liberal establishment can remain virtuous (because their moral arguments against Trump remain unchallenged), and the Trump voters can be excused—forgiven—for their otherwise egregious lapse in judgment (because they can barely afford to put food on the table or keep the gas tank filled). This imagined, and likely imaginary, Trump supporter might say: “OK, OK, we know the guy is a felon, a cheat, and a scalawag—but, well, it’s the economy, stupid.” Mind you, the establishment still disdains this choice, but, in light of Tuesday’s result, they at least have to accept its reality.

Perhaps we ought to be grateful for any attempt, however self-serving or long-delayed, to reckon with the motivations of the MAGA movement, but left unconsidered in this formulation is the possibility that Trump won 75 million or so votes because 75 million people like him.

I propose that the shy, reluctant, or bashful Trump supporter—one whose support is merely a reflection of their own economic worries—is a far rarer creature than the proud, enthusiastic, and confident Trump supporter. Do the voters hope he brings down inflation? Of course. But they would have voted for him anyway because of what they discern to be his character attributes: his toughness, his unashamed love of country, his bond with ordinary people, his stand-up comedy routines and sense of humor more generally, his ability to appear at home seated in a garbage truck or hovering over a deep fryer. 

I argue for a positive theory of the case: As his supporters saw it, Bidenomics is not just bad, but Trump is actively good.

The existence of a measurable Trump fan base would come as no surprise to anyone attuned American popular culture in the 1980s and 1990s. Back then, Trump had achieved sufficient public likability and salability to co-author a best-selling book (The Art of the Deal), lend his likeness to a board game (Trump: The Game), and make himself available as a commercial pitchman (Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, etc.). And, throughout much of the 2000s, Trump’s reality TV series The Apprentice was a mainstream hit on par with the Regis Philbin-hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? or the early seasons of Survivor. 

Those who date their Trump fandom to this era had the advantage of a solid starting point from which to regard his subsequent adventure in electoral politics. Anyone who remembered Trump’s amiably self-mocking cameo in Woody Allen’s 1998 movie Celebrity—in which he said, “I’m working on buying St. Patrick’s Cathedral, maybe doing a little rip-down job, and putting up a very, very tall and beautiful building”—would not have been jarred by his repeated tongue-in-cheek invocations of The Silence of the Lambs. And anyone who remembered Trump consenting to dress in overalls and warble the theme song from Green Acres at the 2005 Emmys would not have been surprised to see him brandishing fries at McDonald’s.

For his supporters, affection arguably turned into admiration over the last two years: During this singularly deranged period in American history, Trump found the fortitude to bear a wholly excessive raid on his home, multiple unnecessary “arrest”-like courtroom appearances, one laughably specious criminal bookkeeping trial, and two assassination attempts—the first of which he rebounded from within seconds of its occurrence when, his presence of mind unaffected by the chaos of the moment, he said: “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Let us regard Trump’s return election as 47th president not simply as a manifestation of the needs of voters but as a reflection of the sentiments of voters. They support Trump not simply because of what he promises to do for them but because they like who he is. When we root for an athlete, we do so not just because he makes us feel good—say, by filling us with civic pride or giving us the vicarious thrill of competition—but because we believe he is worthy of our cheers. 

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