It’s not the fact that Donald J. Trump is speaking his mind in an outside-the-box way that inspires dedication and screeching discipleship from coast to coast. If that were the case, every Donald Trump follower would fall at the feet of Bernie Sanders, who has spoken his mind for decades. Or, they would be devotees of Hillary Clinton, who has spoken her mind sharply enough to draw decades of calculated wrath from the pharmaceutical companies, the oil industry and the gun lobbies.
* Donald Trump receives the unfaltering dedication and hero worship from his followers not because he speaks HIS mind — but the act that Donald J. Trump is indeed, speaking THEIR mind.
Trump gives a name, a face, a resume and a strangely-fitting suit to the ugly stepchild of American Consciousness: Bigotry, fear of change — and the hatred that is born from resentfully stewing these ingredients in repressed-silence. Finally, the Movement of Secret Seething Resentment has a leader. Those who have shrank their less-than-shiny opinions under the weight of their own conscience, and moreover, under the weight of fear of rejection from loved ones or society — now feel free to pump their sweating fists in the air and declare Liberation.
It is not Trump that is the draw himself, but what he transparently stands for. In that, he is the most accomplished politician of all — an irony, coming from a candidate who claims not to be a politician.
He speaks the words that so many in the USA are fearful of owning themselves for they fear that their opinion may be shot down as ugliness by their neighbors.
Countries won’t buy our exported food because it’s full of hormones and genetically modified garbage. Most of our manufacturing comes from China. We are no longer required to label the country of origin our meat comes from, even if that country has lesser health standards than we do. We have derailed, put at risk, and marginalized our own populations in nearly every direction. The United States of America is not United.
Akira Morikawa 