this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2025
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[–] ctrl_alt_esc@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

If charisma wins elections how did Trump win?

Edit: forgot that he most likely didn't, at least the second time. Still, how did his potatoe charisma get him the first win?

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Have you seen the man work a crowd?

His antics don't work on you, or on me, or likely on most people you or I would be friends with. They clearly work on a huge swath of the population though, or we wouldn't be where we are today.

[–] ctrl_alt_esc@lemmy.ml -1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Work a crowd, as in talking barely comprehensible gibberish and hurling insults at people? So charismatic..

2016 Trump ran on the idea of being the good businessman who was going to clean up the swamp and get this ~~company's~~ country's act together. Just like any other CEO selling to investors. I have friends who, halfway into his campaign, were like, "I kinda like this Trump guy, he tells it like it is," and by the time of the election they had completely 180'd on him because of the details of what he was promising.

One of these friends is super into cults and true crime, and he says that listening to Trump is eerie because he sounds exactly like Jim Jones. Then, and now. Back then he sounded like Jim Jones in his prime (and read Hitler's speeches as bedtime stories according to an ex-wife, which would explain why all his campaign promises match up with Hitler's). Today, he sounds like Jim Jones making his death speeches while you can hear them forcing the cultists to drink the Flavor-Aid and gasping, choking, and dying in the background of the recordings.

The people who liked Trump the first time and didn't change their minds then were never going to change their minds the second time. They've already bought into the cult. And that's what Trump is - a cult leader. He promises them a solution to their misery by giving them an obvious target to take their aggression out on, and people eat it up because they want a simple solution that absolves them of any blame.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 3 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

trump back in 2016 was genuinely charismatic... to his base. He was able to quickly spin nonsense schoolyard bully insults against anyone who went up against him ("Little marco rubio" and so forth). Combine that with Hilary having almost two decades of smear campaign tactics against her at that point and not committing one way or another towards decorum or "you fuckers are weird" and... yeah.

trump in 2024 won because the left blames Biden for the economy and the chuds wanted their hitler back.

[–] ctrl_alt_esc@lemmy.ml 2 points 22 hours ago

That's not charisma.. maybe little kids would find that impressive, although I doubt it.

Don’t kid yourself. It takes a ton of charisma to lead a cult of personality.