Say what you will about the historically calamitous presidency of Donald Trump, but we all must admit that he was able to accomplish something that none of his forty-four predecessors could: he proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that anybody can be the President of the United States.
Trump, the first person to become President without either military or political experience, did what millions of people worldwide told him he would never be able to do. News anchors, political commentators, fellow politicians, and even President Barack Obama laughed at the prospect of him running for office. And can we blame them? Many of you reading this, I’m sure, were laughing right along with them. How could a reality television host who had never held public office win the presidency, let alone defeat a former United States Secretary of State in an election? The thought of his victory was simply inconceivable. Then, it happened.
Americans began frantically hunting for answers. Is the country that racist? Yes. Are they that dumb? Yes. Do they even hear him? Absolutely. In fact, this is by far the easiest one to answer. Donald Trump became the president because he knew precisely how to appeal to Americans. Being a businessman, if there was anything he knew how to do, it was how to close a deal with compelling nonsense and vapid promises. One of the most popular excerpts from Trump’s ghostwritten 1987 book, Trump: The Art of the Deal, is surprisingly telling of his philosophy for something he did not write:
“The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration—and a very effective form of promotion.”
Very effective indeed—how else would you describe something that wins you a nation’s highest office? Trump may not have known anything about infrastructure, foreign policy, or the inner workings of the American political system, but he damn sure knew how to talk. An exceptional hour-long film by Vic Berger and VICE News entitled A Portrait of Donald J. Trump perfectly captures his love for hyperbole, and may very possibly contain footage of every single time he said: “millions and millions” or “billions and billions” throughout his four years. Spoiler: there were many times. It worked to Trump’s advantage that he literally had a fourth-grade vocabulary because his language had mass appeal. He knew that Americans wanted to believe that America was the greatest country in the world, the greatest country that ever existed, a country that had never done any wrong, and a country that wasn’t doing any wrong now. He fed it to them and they swooned with every word.
White supremacy’s current and worsening vicelike stranglehold on the nation notwithstanding, perhaps the most concerning dregs that the forty-fifth left behind are the precedents. So we have established that his severe lack of qualification proves that anyone can do the job. But his four-year national demolition project may prove that anyone can defile it, too. With his second impeachment trial, following the events of January 6th, 2021, those that voted to impeach Trump sought to set their own precedent. A tweet by Sen. Bernie Sanders summarized it well: “It must be made clear that no president, now or in the future, can lead an insurrection against the U.S. government.” The Senate responded by setting their own precedent, effectively voting to let any President, now and in the future, get away with murder.
Trump and his family also used the White House as an advertising space, an act befitting his business and entirely apolitical background that was widely panned as unethical and disrespectful of the office. He had peaceful protestors tear-gassed in order to conduct a photo-op with an upside-down bible. He became the first president in the history of the United States to contest the results of a lawful election, and the first one to lie about having won. If the President of the United States can get away with all of this with a mere slap on the wrist, who’s to say that another smooth yet remedial talker couldn’t do the same some years down the line?
Personally, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to believe that someone somewhere was inspired to begin a career in politics after observing Trump for four years—it already happened to Kanye. The Trump presidency was the very essence of “If he can do it, I can do it.” Unfortunately (for us), it was also the essence of making every conceivable mistake and suffering no consequences for it. Trump made a complete mockery of the highest office in the land and he’s probably playing golf as you read this. But now that he’s gone and left us in the rubble, the question remains: will anyone else choose to play president instead of be it?