https://spectator.org/2020-election-covid-housing-crisis/
EXCERPT
The Trump Phenomenon
While the Republican establishment didn’t accept that the media would destroy any Republican, no matter how moderate, their base voters did. The voters had enough of conventional politicians looking the part and then selling them out with legislation that is exactly the opposite of what they wanted all the while seeking the hateful media’s approval. In a crowded field of solid Republican talent, newbie politician Donald J. Trump came to the fore. Many in the Tea Party wanted a fiscal conservative like Ted Cruz. And, in fact, Sen. Cruz won his home state. Even Cruz, though, couldn’t overcome Trump’s formidable abilities, the chief being his pugilistic interaction with the media. He, more than any other living Republican, knew both the cultural and political establishment and the media. Like most Americans outside the Beltway, he had little use for either.
Trump’s honest outrage at the political classes’ failures reflected the feelings of many Americans. Had the working class been destroyed? Yes. Had the middle class been abused and harmed? Yes. Had small business owners been frustrated, inhibited with regulations and taxation? Yes. Were corporations encouraged to move production overseas due to taxation, regulation, and rhetoric? Yes. Had stupid wars sapped America’s strength? Yes.
Trump laid bare their corruption for all to see. He knew their contempt and what they said behind closed doors. He knew the stupidity and mendacity of the media.
Many establishment Republicans, especially, think that Trump’s rhetoric is a ruse. They think that he postures at populism and is simply sloganeering to gain power for its own sake. They view him as an empty charlatan pretending and using the American people to feed his egotistical need to run things — America as his most recent business acquisition. They’re wrong, both about Trump and about the people he represents.
President Trump’s voters saw, for the first time, a Republican who kept his promises against a tsunami of opposition from the media, the Democrats, and, worst of all, his own party. Trump’s rhetorical and policy loyalty to his voters has garnered fanatical loyalty in return.