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From the start, Trump targeted the (mostly) white working class, which happens to be 40 percent of the country. And he’s done it not just with issues, but with how he talks — the ball-busting, the “bragging,” the over-the-top promises.
“Bragging” is in quotes because it’s not (all) about his ego: The endless reciting of poll numbers, the constant references to how much the media’s paying attention, is mainly about showing that he’s beating the cultural elite.
Beating the elite on behalf of his voters — who’ve been invisible to the politicians and the media for decades.
Consider a huge story that vanished almost immediately in early November: Two Princeton economists discovered that deaths are soaring among middle-aged, low-education whites.
The rise in mortality from 1999 to 2014 was 22 percent: Up 134 deaths per 100,000 for whites aged 45 to 54 whose education ended in high school.
To blame: jumps in suicides and in deaths from drug abuse — that is, from alcoholic liver disease plus overdoses of heroin and prescription opiates.
One of the economists, Nobel winner Angus Deaton, notes that the only modern trend that compares is the AIDS epidemic.
AIDS won headlines for a decade. The Deaton findings basically vanished from the media after a day.
And these soaring death rates are just one sign of the stresses the American working class faces. Many other blue-collar folks struggle on OK. But they know they’ve got huge problems that just don’t get talked about — and anyone who does raise them gets denounced and then ignored.
Until Trump.
America hasn’t been great for the working class for decades — which is why “Make America Great Again” is a great slogan for a guy who’s talking tough on the problems that blue-collar Americans (and more than a few middle-class folks) see as killing them.
And getting attention — unbelievable attention — even as he breaks all the “establishment” rules.
Because he’s playing and winning by blue-collar rules, and what are you gonna do about it?
Of course, he also has to show he’s for real. Why should these voters trust him? Answering those unspoken doubts is why Trump doubles down on his promises — he’s not just going to build a wall, but make Mexico pay.
First off, it’s funny — always a plus. More, it says he’ll damn well at least get the wall built.
I don't think so. I think he's using a principle of influence called "social proof" by Robert Cialdini in his book "Influence". It's used in ads all the time, "best seller", "number one", etc. People see that and say "well, if other people like it, it MUST be good". In Trump's case, I think he goes out of his way to hammer that he's way you front as a way to subconsciously nudge those with doubts (about his style or whatever) that they are safe in setting aside those doubts, and if they don't they will be on the outside looking in (the thought of which makes people uncomfortable).
The media does this all the time to prop of marginal candidates that they prefer. It's also the point of push polls. Typically the candidates themselves don't say it but Trump does, still the same thing in my opinion.