Understanding The Popularity and Appeal of Trump

 

 

It has been perplexing for me to understand how intelligent, informed and well-educated people, can support Trump. For me, it is just so obvious that Trump is the diametric antithesis of the type of person who should be elected to lead our country. This dichotomy remained unresolved until it came to me that it’s all about one thing: CHANGE.

Change is a constant force of nature. At first blush, most of us are naturally suspicious and leery of change, but it is ever present, and it is something we have to recognize, confront and adjust to.    

We are wary of change because it requires us to move from the known to the unknown. For many, from all walks of life, the impact of change conjures up a fear of the future, insecurities and uncertainty. This apprehension over change creates in many a desire to go back to what they knew and were comfortable with in the past.

But one thing to understand is that once fundamental change is inculcated into society, as much as we may want to, there is no going back. In fact, the more change is resisted, the more powerful it becomes. Over and over, the experience of our country has shown that the best way to deal with change is to embrace it and use it to move forward toward a better future.

CHANGING AMERICA

During its history, our country has been a laboratory for change; both for the role of government and the freedoms and rights of the people. These changes did not come easily. Over time, the emergence of significant changes – be they natural or imposed – led to resistance, protests, riots and even a civil war.

However, America is fortunate to be blessed with a government that is structured and flexible enough to both facilitate and survive change. Also, for the most part, we have been blessed with leaders who encouraged followers to respond to change by looking forward rather than back. Leaders who recognized that in order for our country to continue to grow and succeed we need to be open to new principles, new ideas and new ways of thinking.

THE RISE OF THE DEMAGOGUE

But change in America also spawned a cadre of individuals who were pure political demagogues. A demagogue is a wannabe political leader who uses the anxiety over change to appeal to popular prejudices and fear, makes false claims and promises to “go back,” all in order to gain personal power. A few examples of American demagogues include, Huey Long, Joe McCarthy and George Wallace. These and other demagogues gained outsized publicity and followers by using the phobia of change, rather than the potential for a better future that change could spur.

Fortunately, these provocateurs of fear, falsehoods and unfulfilled promises of “going back” were exposed for their self-serving bogus claims, fear mongering and outlandish promises. As a result, they were all ultimately relegated to obscurity. 

DONALD TRUMP

Trump is not only the latest political demagogue to emerge but has clearly been the most successful of all political demagogues. This is the case for two reasons: Trump may be the most talented marketer, pitchman and salesperson in our country’s history. As such, Trump has a finely tuned ability to identify, appeal to and stoke the insecurities and fears of his “prospects” especially when it comes to change.

Also, Trump has an advantage that earlier demagogues lacked. He has co-opted and taken control of one of our two major political parties – the Republican Party. Previous demagogues collected multitudes of followers, but they were disorganized and lacked a powerful, organized political structure that would allow them to gain real power, because both the Democratic and Republican Parties ultimately exposed and rejected their dangerous philosophies.

Trump’s demagogic appeal is more dangerous because he has the full history, power, infrastructure and financial resources of the Republican Party, not to mention the backing of virtually every elected Republican state and federal officer, to echo his conspiracy theories and diatribes against the evils of change.

SO KNOW I KNOW …

Now I know and understand Trump’s popularity and appeal to those who feel threatened by change and want to go back “to the way it was.” And it is why he has a strong chance to win.

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Robert MacDonald -- Former CEO of ITT Life, founder of LifeUSA Insurance Company, retired chairman and CEO of Allianz Life of North America; author of several books on business, management and leadership. bobmac5201@gmail.com

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