Thursday, November 21, 2024

Donald Trump, Cultural Icon

By Rich Lowry

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

 

There were a number of scams perpetrated by the Democratic–media complex during the election. One was that the Puerto Rican joke was going to sway the campaign. Another was that the Iowa poll showed the Midwest slipping away from Trump. But perhaps the biggest was that Kamala Harris was joyous. In fact, she was utterly synthetic, while the guy having fun — at least most of the time — was Donald Trump. One reason that the Right went for the narrative that Haitians were eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, was that the countless online memes of Trump protecting kittens and dogs were so amusing (I’m not saying this was a good reason to repeat bad information).

 

Anyway, the starkest evidence that Trump was the more joyful candidate is how his “Y.M.C.A.” dance has been picked up across the sports world. The appeal of the dance is that it’s kind of ridiculous, and in making it one of his signature moves, Trump was willing to implicitly make fun of himself, or at least didn’t care how he looked — something that’s always immensely appealing in candidates. And it was totally authentic. No political consultant came up with the dance or gamed out how it might play in Scranton, the way the Harris campaign might have.

 

He just did it, and enjoyed himself. Imagine that.

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