So in 2016, I was stunned that Trump's presidential run lasted more than a month. As it drugged on I made it my mission to talk as many people out of supporting him as possible. It did not occur to me that he could actually win until I saw the numbers on election night. After his election, I decided not to invest the emotional energy to change the minds of the people who voted for him but I did attempt to persuade Christians to hold him accountable for his race-baiting, crudeness, sexism, xenophobia etc.
After he was defeated in 2020 I figured he was done and glad that he would be out of the body politics. I figure he would either get too old, be jailed by his political enemies or be marginalized in the Republican party. When DeSantis faded in the primary, I steadied myself of the real possibility of a second Trump presidency.
And that presidency is upon us. I still think of Trump as sexist, race-baiting, egotistical, and intellectually incurious. But I do not have TDS. As such I have reluctantly come to this conclusion.
Donald Trump will be a consequential figure in United States history.
I am not saying this because he will end democracy. He will not. I am not saying this because I have confidence in his domestic or foreign policy. I do not. I am saying this because somehow, against all expectations he has put together a coalition that not only crushed the Democrats but it is historic in nature.
When have we seen a cross-racial coalition of the working class? Not in my lifetime. I would have never thought that Trump could do that. How can such a crude man build such a coalition? What about the race-baiting and arrogance of him? That is a puzzle historians will debate for a long time.
My take is that he came at the right time. A time where the working class felt neglected, alienated and ignored. Somehow this billionaire has connected to them. Maybe it is his rudness so that he can be the personal middle finger the working class wants to send to the elite. His ego probably has helped him to weather the attacks, fair and unfair, from the Democrats may have earned respect from the working class and allowed him to portray himself as marginalized. For whatever reason Trump is at the center of a political realignment and it may have happened without him. But we will never know that for certain and that makes him consequential.
I still think of Trump as an egotistical clown. But I cannot deny the impact he is having in our society. And this realignment may not be all bad. Having the working class linked across racial lines offers tremendous opportunities for the right person to do some good. I do not see Trump as that person but perhaps a future Repubican leader might be that person.