A TV critic for the NYT has apparently written a book in which he argues that Trump is best understood as a persona in a TV drama. Is he right?
Largely yes, but not completely. What binds Trump to his base is his anger at their common enemies in the establishment. That has nothing to do with “The Apprentice.”
The right is fueled by anger because reactionary white Christian men see themselves as the proper rulers of America, but the losers of the culture wars, and the victims of a system which gives immigrants and minorities cuts in line at their expense. You may fairly ask why they relate so strongly to a billionaire developer and casino owner from New York with multiple marriages and no understanding of Christianity. All I can say is that Trump only sounds authentic when he’s angry, and that the shared sense of grievance probably comes from a belief that the Manhattan social establishment laughed at him and his father.
Whatever the reason, that anger is very corrosive, and it is starting to damage our institutions; the right clearly attaches more importance to its values than to the workings of our liberal democratic system. If you really want something to worry about, consider the likely response from the reactionaries if Trump loses in 2020. No matter how lopsided the outcome may be, the reactionaries are going to view the new Democratic administration as illegitimate, and things are going to get really ugly.