The foundation to a good Trump impression is to stick a masterful stuck-up, 1970s Manhattan Drag Queen first.
"Fake news? Woke mob? Meatball Ron? Snap out of it, Donna, they're about to announce you on-stage!"
There's this thing that's been rattling around my head for years. Why did this rich narcissistic queen win over the rural working whites? All I can come up with is that his performative ass resonates with their performative asses. I'm still half asleep so I don't know if this is entirely coherent but I think this analysis explains a lot of it while liberals say "oh its economic anxiety" or "Oh they're dumb racists."
And that's true! But there's something more to the equation that explains how this shambling monster is seen as charismatic. They see themselves in him despite having nothing really in common. So it has to be the performance. They're all performing. The dude larping as a navy seal and trump are both playing pretend with a similar intensity. "Game recognizes game" sorta shit.
I dunno I'm still working on this idea.
I think you're onto something with "game recognizes game". I think many of these people feel like a fraud, insecure but trying to affect confidence. They see Trump being an absolute fraud, but think he's succeeding at fooling everyone around them. It lessens their insecurity when Trump is unquestionably accepted by conservatives, so they never tell anyone that they secretly see through his bullshit. Then they become the proof for other people that he's fooling everyone.
Yes, I'm glad you see it too. They are deeply insecure, as you say. There's also an element of sunk cost fallacy at play. Trying to parse the wriggling mass of brain worms 1 worm at a time.
There's a take that's been rattling around in my brain for years, probably came from some god damn podcast, that the American super rich don't know how to enjoy or flaunt their wealth because they're all too busy trying to pretend to be human. Trump doesn't bother with any of that. He buys the gold toilet.
He behaves like they imagine they would if they had the wealth and power he has
It's important to be bitchy and funny, sure, but you also have to have style or glamour. Trump would make a great queen, no drag.
There was the time Rudy Guliani dressed in drag and Trump stuck his face in Guliani’s tits
