T. J. Brearton
Jun 21, 2024

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The garden variety Trump supporter is unlikely to be concerned with the failures of neoliberalism. I.e., he's not worried developing countries didn't get precisely the uplift promised by global consumer capitalism.

He's more concerned with liberal wokeness (formerly "political correctness") and any and all admonition for him to accept diverse peoples and ideas (multiculturalism). And his grievances are given steroids on social media, where he can find and be stoked by others who think they feel the same way.

This best/worst candidate is a great framework, I just think it's missing how Trump is the consummate reality TV show star, and how he's so effortlessly weaponized the national political news media and social networks -- because they're hopelessly drawn to him in an attention economy. If all else was the same, and we were in pre-Twitter/X America, Trump would not have ascended.

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T. J. Brearton
T. J. Brearton

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