Three reasons why Trump may get re-elected

If you are not a fan of US President Donald Trump, it may be a good idea to prepare yourself — because there is a huge chance that he will win the 2020 elections.

In 2016, I wrote a column in which I described the organic popularity of Trump based on the hours I spent watching his rallies and following his supporters online.

Trump made a large segment of Americans feel like he would stick it to the much disliked class of political elites based in Washington.

His then opponent, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, simply did not expect anyone to take Trump seriously.

But this was the grave error — people like to side with the underdog and that is how Trump was seen by many.

Never mind that Trump is as rich and elite as they come, his base saw him speaking the language of the common people.

Now, of course, Trump is fighting as a sitting president.

A few months ago, his inadequate response to the coronavirus pandemic in the US  battered his political favourability.

With deaths and economic destruction happening all around, and people seeing Trump’s incompetence and poor handling of scientific debates on the virus, it seemed set that the Democrats’ Joe Biden was on his way to trouncing Trump at the polls without so much as holding a political rally.

But now all that seems to have changed, and it appears that Trump is back on the rise in popularity, and the reasons are all rooted in the appeal to “Americanness”.

Let me explain.

The first mistake his opponents in the Democratic Party made was to uncritically side with the current wave of #BlackLivesMatter protests after the killing of George Floyd by a police officer a few months ago.

The Democratic Party wholesale adopted the symbolism of #BlackLivesMatter for its photo opportunities to try cast police brutality as a problem entrenched by Trump-era racism.

The Democrats focused narrowly and superficially on “racism” but overlooked the underlying mood of social discontent, economic precariousness and deep class inequality that was brought to the fore by the pandemic.

As a result, they failed to see that #BlackLivesMatter was a mix of many things, which includes some opportunistic anarchist elements who join protests just to enjoy throwing a petrol bomb.

The result is that there are so many ongoing riots in the US and they are all being blamed on #BlackLivesMatter and the Democratic Party’s support of the movement.

Ordinary Americans are now looking to Trump’s strong talk of “law and order” to end the riots.

Secondly, people are tired of being politically correct and voting for Trump is their way of rebelling against “mainstream” expectations.

Again in 2016, I explained why the rising middle-class politics of political correctness was a huge blind spot for Clinton’s campaign.

Many moderate Americans who were too scared to openly state they supported Trump secretly voted for him.

They condemned him in public but voted for him in private.

Lastly, for all his nonsensical theatrics, Trump continues to sell the dream of American specialness and exceptionalism.

If there is one thing that Americans share across the board, it is the belief that the US is historically unique and that its form of constitutionalism is worth defending.

Now, they may disagree about how it should be defended, but there’s a consensus that “to be an American’” is a particularly special thing.

Trump’s 2020 campaign is now capitalising on the idea of Americanness in full force.

As riots and protests continue, people may see the election as being less about Trump’s competence, but more about his reinvigoration of the sentiment of American specialness.

What four more years of Trump holds, no-one knows — but we must prepare ourselves for the possibility.