Trumpism: Its about the message, not the man.

When Donald Trump descended the escalators of Trump Towers on that day in 2015, none of the
establishments ruling class or the media monopolies could have foreseen the political earthquake
that was about to rock Middle America. When Trump gave his now infamous Mexican immigration
speech when he spoke of them bringing crime and drugs, very few saw that a movement was being
born, but some of us realised the implications of what he said and what Trump was touching upon.

Middle America, or what some of the leftist intelligentsia would refer to as Knuckle-drag
America, or Flyover country, responded to Trump not because of who he is. Donald Trump is a
New York billionaire who came from a privileged background who probably has more in common
with establishment Democrats than he would with a coal miner from Pennsylvania or a Texas
rancher.

Middle America responded because Trump spoke to culture. Donald Trump, assisted by clever
tacticians like Steve Bannon spoke to Middle Americas fear of the erosion of the cultural fabric of
what they had built their entire existence and belief system upon. Over the previous 8 years of
Democratic governance, identity politics had been the driving force for legislation amongst Obama
and his fellow Democrats. Obama passed many laws favouring the rights of homosexuals and
minority groups, not that I disagree with those laws personally, I think it was a good thing, but add to
that the fact that Obama would never criticize Islamic extremists and even offered an amnesty for
the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, it doesnt take a genius to see how a sense
of white displacement came about.

Flyover country as Middle America is often referred to, bore the brunt of the financial crash of
2008. Many industries have closed over the decades in favour of globalization, putting blue collar
guys out of jobs and eroding the job security that many of these industrial towns and cities once
had. When the financial crash occurred, it seemed to be the final nail in the coffin of these towns
and cities and hope had all but diminished. Since the late 2000s, these very same communities have
been slowly ravaged by the effects of the Opiate epidemic, which is such a public health emergency
that now more Americans are dying from Opiate overdoses than are dying from automobile
accidents.

Another phenomenon was occurring in America at the same time. Spilling out from the college
campuses and the left-wing dominated entertainment industry was this new form of identity politics
which made the white man the enemy. All you had to do was turn on a late-night comedy show,
listen to a broadcast on CNN or attend a University lecture to see this amalgamation of identity
politics play out first hand. If you couple this with the Democratic policies that seemed to focus
solely on the rights of minority groups, the ideology of Trumpism as we now call it is a logical
outcome from these equations.

Simply put, people in a lot of the places that voted for Trump were suffering, a lot of them still are.
On top of that suffering, these people were constantly being referred to as rubes or racists just
because of the colour of their skin or because of their geographical position on the map. The
entertainment world, the political establishment and the mainstream media often looked down on
these people and gave the message that if these people didnt wholeheartedly accept their political
enlightenment then they would always be the gap-tooth rednecks they had always viewed them as.
 When Trump promised these people hope, when he said that he would put America first and make
America great again, how could they not respond? Political correctness had silenced many of these
very same peoples views, when Trump came out and said whatever he wanted whenever he
wanted to, this was like music to the ears of the so called silent majority. Finally, they had a voice.

Trump didnt win because he had fantastic policies, or even because he was an experienced
politician. Trump won because he spoke to the fears that Middle America had held about the left for
many years and were now seeing it play out in front of them. These truly were the silent majority,
especially under Obama they had become the forgotten middle. Trumpism is all about culture. That
is why the left are granting Trump victories daily by the unhinged actions they are undertaking.

The antics of Antifa, the hysterical screams from Democratic officials and the media about Russia
and Hollywoods constant criticism of Trump voters is feeding Trump energy, he is still winning this
fight, even though he has managed to pass not one piece of significant legislation. Although many
love their man and his never say die attitude can be quite endearing, some of his voters do hold
some reservations about Trump.

So, people need to ask themselves, what is it about Trump? It is simple. It is not the man, it is
what he stands for in his voters eyes. An America which still retains its traditions, an America that is
not racked by guilt but empowered by exceptionalism. The left began the culture war in America,
tearing down statues, infringing on the rights of religious freedoms when it comes to Christians and
making white people feel guilty in their own skin, but the 2016 election was America fighting back in
that culture war, telling the left that they would not see their way of life ripped away from them
without a fight. Trump is no more than a message, Trump may not win the next election, if the left
has their way he will be impeached and in an orange jump suit before then, but no matter what, if
the left doesnt drop the weapons and retreat from the battle lines that they have drawn in this
culture war, I dont think this is a fight they are going to win and Trumpism will take another face in
his place.

By Luke Moran

If you like this and want to read more buy my book PC gone mad: How political correctness aided the
rise of right-wing populism on Amazon. Follow me on Twitter @LukeM_PCwatch.