[majormajor]

Very few other people have Trump's ability to channel frustration in a nonspecific-but-charismatic way that connects the various extreme factions of the American right.

None of those factions will be gone, but their battles will weaken their cause more than they have since 2016.

Some of this can be seen by how even his own popularity falls any time he actually has power, since there are no effective ideas there, only misplaced blame, and that doesn't sustain support for four years. Without him there at all in an out-of-power period, the "blame the Jews"/"blame the brown people"/"blame the women"/"blame the baby-killers"/"blame the anti-Semites"/"blame the sexual deviants" factions will likely fail to find another person they all rally around.

[goosejuice]

The extreme factions of the right are a very small portion of the electorate. They generally don't decide elections beyond the primaries and generally turn out in favor of the right regardless.

Dems lean more on moderates/independents. Trump won because he persuaded that group, particularly the young men.

https://www.thirdway.org/memo/why-republicans-can-win-with-t...

[fakedang]

25-33% of the electorate is no small fraction. There's a group of people who have been consistently supportive of this government's policies since 2016. Take any policy survey, and the fraction that supports the right-wing side of action always amounts to a consistent 25-33% of the votes.

[goosejuice]

You're going to have to define extreme right with those percentages. You think 25-33% of the electorate is extreme right?

[fakedang]

Definitely MAGA, even if not violently far right.

[intended]

While being largely correct, looking at his popularity misses the forest for the tree.

Trump is very much a symptom, not a cause. He is simply the kind of personality most fit for the media environment.

The media environment on the right has essentially eschewed journalistic standards for political and economic velocity.

Fringe theories get introduced during podcasts, which then get brought up by guests on Fox. Members of the government point out that the news media is talking about fringe theory X, which then gets repeated by the news media. Eventually the government opens up an investigation or creates a task force to address the issue.

It is not that people don’t come up with objections or counter narratives on the right, it’s just that they don’t get platformed.

Verification is the expensive part of journalism. If you eschew verification. You can be more efficient. Today the right is simply the more “efficient” political consensus manufacturing machine.

This is foundation upon which the rest of the events occur. This is why there will always be space for another character to appear.

[fakedang]

> Trump's ability to channel frustration in a nonspecific-but-charismatic way

If Trump is the most charismatic political personality America has to offer...