Dem
51
GOP
49
Most politicians try to run an upbeat campaign, talking largely about how wonderful America is and how it will be even better with them in charge. Remember Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" or "The shining city on the hill"? Donald Trump is not your run-of-the-mill politician. In his victory speech on Tuesday and many of his other speeches, he depicts America as a dystopian failed state overwhelmed with lawlessness and urban blight, and on a path toward WW III. He promises to get revenge on political enemies, and to stamp out the vermin within the country. This picture is even worse than his "American carnage" inaugural address. To hear him, America is a banana republic, but without the bananas.
It's hardly Reagan's sunny America, but it is aimed clearly at his supporters, who know little of the country or the world outside of their little towns, and believe the rest of the country is worse than Hell. On Tuesday, Trump said: "2024 is our final battle. We will demolish the deep state, we will expel the warmongers from our government—we will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the Marxists, the communists and fascists. We will rout the fake news media, we will drain the swamp. We will be a liberated country again." Change a few words and you've got an old-fashioned holy roller preacher screaming at the believers assembled in his big tent outdoors.
A key difference between Trump and other politicians is that with most politicians, after they score a big win, they try to unite the country and act like the leader of the entire country. Trump has a base-only strategy. He wants to lead his people and subjugate everyone else. The rhetoric concerning the blue half of the country is just as bad as the rhetoric most politicians had about the Japanese right after Pearl Harbor. Neither of the Bushes had a violent hatred of the people who didn't vote for them, but Trump sure does. (V)