@emilycadei
ALMOST A YEAR into his surreal campaign for president, the American political class still doesn’t know what to make of Donald Trump. The billionaire mogul’s defiance of all the standard rules of American politics, not to mention the orthodoxy of his own party, has left pundits scrambling to explain his takeover of the Republican Party. They should look abroad. Ironically, a campaign built on “making America great again” bears a strong resemblance to right-wing movements overseas, past and present. Maybe the question, then, is not how Trump did it but why the United States hasn’t seen this kind of movement take off until now. Instead of underlining American exceptionalism, Trump is unleashing a political force that’s already prominent in other parts of the world.
Even a Trump rally feels different from a normal campaign event, something more akin to a rock concert or a megachurch prayer session. Trump took questions at a rally outside Cincinnati in mid-March, for example, but the audience was more interested in fawning over than grilling him. “I love you, Donald Trump. Man, you’re the future of America,” a middle-aged man, decked out in an American flag and a Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, told the mogul. “I’ve been waiting 17 hours to see you today...and I would love to get a picture with you before I leave.” A white middle-aged woman requested a hug from the candidate, and another woman told him, “It is so refreshing to have a presidential candidate that is not bought and paid for. I believe in you, that you will make America great again.”