Donald Trump had risen to the very top of the greatest country in the modern human history. His rise to the Whitehouse as the President of the United States was partly due to his long building of the “Trump brand” and partly because of the weak Democratic candidacy in 2016 election. He had exploited the fear of the White Americans, especially after the first black president entered into the Whitehouse. On top of that, the USA wasn’t still ready to see a woman as their commander in chief. He ran the country the way he had promised: divided the country into white and non-white, started to take the country back to pre-Kennedy era (essentially, to Make America White Again). Finally, he has fallen due to COVID-19 disaster that he further dragged the country into the worse of it. And then he has fallen to the bottom after the heinous “insurrection” at the Capitol Hill. The question is why he couldn’t handle this crisis while he handled the economy and other things in a very shrewd manner. The answer is - his strength that brought him the Presidency was also his prime weakness. Let’s take a deep dive.
The Trump Brand
The biggest thing that everyone had missed in 2016 was underestimating the “Trump” brand. Trump was an American icon since 1980s - he embodied the image of the American Dream. In America, the winner takes it all and no one remember the 2nd man in the race. And Trump had branded himself as the “winner”. He lived a celebrity life and always kept him in the spot light. Trump always kept him in the political realm and long flattered with running for Presidency. And after all, he was a billionaire celebrity for more than four decades. This is the reason when Trump said things without providing any detail or plan and yet people trusted him because of his past track record. That’s why Trump was able to cruise through smoothly what otherwise drags a politician out of the race (like grave scandals or saying things those are politically incorrect). Politicians live on their brand image which is their “words” and Trump’s brand was his "billionaire celebrity" figure. He has created an image to the public: He always defies the odd and wins. He never acknowledges anything as his failure: either he wins or his opponents fail - there was no middle ground. He is always the winner who defies all the odds and wins at the end - like a hero in the movie. In essence, he was very successful to create that kind of “Trump” brand.
Trump did what he had said he would do
Like it or not, Trump actually did all what he had promised to do. He had promised to stop Muslims entering to the country: he issued an executive order for a Muslim ban from 7 Muslim majority countries. He had promised to stop Mexican immigration: he created a fear in the border and slowed down the immigration. He didn’t start a new war in the world and ultimately pulled back US militaries from Afghanistan, Syria, etc. His promise to his voters was to take the country back to prior to 1960s when White population was the power of the country. His administration continued working on legal immigration to slow down (and ultimately stop) the non-white immigration (Latino, African, Asian, etc.). He brought manufacturing industry back, to some extent: he created an environment of “Made in America” ideology. The list goes on and on but the bottom line is he has done what he had promised to his supporters. Though the outcomes of his actions would have long term negative impact to the world but his base supporters got what they wanted from him in the short run.
The strength which brought him to the Presidency has cost him the Presidency
Trump was defeated by COVID19 - not by Biden or Democratic Party. Had he not mess with the COVID19, no one would be able to defeat him. No sitting president with such economic prosperity (check the Stock market and unemployment rate prior to COVID19 - it was the best in last 50 years) would lose the 2nd term of their presidency. That just doesn’t happen. He lost for not accepting the fact of Corona virus and people died in hundreds of thousands. Just by accepting the pandemic, American would’ve given him the “benefit of doubt” - after all he got eighty million votes even after all the crisis. Though people may question why Trump didn’t accept the fact of Corona virus - after all it was nothing he created by himself and it was nothing to do with America alone. It was a global pandemic. So why he behaved as if he had to fight with COVID as his opponent? The answer lies in his strength - he always faced his opponent by attacking them at them least and bullying them most of the time. He can’t, by nature, retreat in a fight. That was his biggest strength and brought him success in his entire life. Even the failures in his life were portrayed as his “wins” by distorting the reality through his rhetorics. But this is the first time his opponent wasn’t a human foe but a biological invisible foe. This biological enemy threatened his “success” of his presidency i.e. the booming Economy and he had no choice but to fight his enemy back. He started to tag it with China (to make it a visible enemy) as Chinese biological attack (he even tried to label it as “Conflu”), then labeling the COVID statistics as fake news, and finally labeled it as a “weak” virus after he recovered from its infection. He could’ve just accepted the global pandemic and American would’ve given him another chance. Remember, even after close to 300,000 deaths in the virus after his disastrous policy, he got seventy five million votes (more than what he got in 2016 election). But he couldn’t help but fight back because that was his biggest strength and subsequently turned out to his biggest weakness. Finally, the major mistake he made by not accepting the loss in election and on January 6th by the insurrection call to the Capitol Hill. Again, why he couldn’t wait for another 4 years and run again? The answer to that question remains same - Trump can’t accept that he is the loser and he can’t stop fighting even when there’s no space to fight.
Potential Reincarnation of Trump
America needs to unwind a lot of things from the Trump presidency - to take the country forward. This is the greatest chance America got. Had Trump been elected in this year, it would’ve been an irreversible journey towards “Make America White Again”. However, don’t think the Trump threat is over. Trump would do everything possible to take the revenge for his defeat - even if it means to push the country into a civil war. I don’t think Trump would be able to come back to the Whitehouse ever again (The Jan 6th insurrection was the last nail in his political career) but he would be instrumental to bring a more dangerous element to the Congress, Senate or to the Whitehouse in future. However, he would do everything possible in his capacity to take the revenge of his defeat and push forward his White Supremacy agenda. If he’s successful, and we fail to reset America, the reincarnation of Trump would be more dangerous and horrifying. We need to be active and vigilant to keep America great - a great multi cultural idea to the world.
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