Turns out they’re faking it
Throughout history, the hallmark of strongman conservatism has always been the same: make yourself look so strong and inevitable that the people who oppose don’t bother to fight, and the people in the middle simply fall in line. It’s a strategy that works. But it falls apart if the strongman stops looking strong. It’s why you always look to expose the vulnerability and weakness of a strongman you oppose. It’s also why Donald Trump and his regime are trying so desperately to look strong.
The trouble for Trump and his people is that, just one month in, they’re already having a hard time pulling off the act. Trump’s tariffs are playing so weakly that the stock market is now plummeting. Trump’s aggressively inept attempts at ramping up deportation have failed, as deportation numbers haven’t risen at all. And Elon Musk’s attempt at cutting “government waste” on Trump’s behalf has turned into a keystone cops level laughing stock. In other words, Trump and his people are failing badly at looking strong.
So now they’re doing what incompetent strongmen always do when they’re failing: they’re faking it. Trump’s approval rating is plummeting, so he’s claiming that it’s at an all time high. Trump is looking weak on immigration, so he announced this weekend that the border is now magically closed. And Musk has utterly failed to cut any government spending, so he’s reportedly resorting to releasing fake results.
If you’re going to fake the strongman routine, you have to be able to sell it to the majority of the people. One month in, and they’re already failing to sell it to the majority of Americans, if his approval rating is any indication. Trump’s increasingly obvious weakness is something that we can exploit and use against him.
