Trump voters who don’t believe his promises

(Detroit) One of the strangest aspects of Donald Trump’s political appeal is this: Many people are happy to vote for him because they simply don’t believe he will do most of the things he does. ‘he promises.

The former president talked about arming the Justice Department and imprisoning political opponents. He said he would purge the government of anything disloyal and would have a hard time hiring anyone who would admit the 2020 election wasn’t stolen. He proposed “a truly violent day” during which police officers could be “extraordinarily brutal” with impunity. He promised mass deportations and predicted it would be “a bloody story.” And while many of his supporters welcome these comments, many others believe it is simply part of a big game.

There is, of course, evidence to the contrary. During Mr. Trump’s term in office (2017-2021), some of his autocratic rhetoric came true. He actually implemented a ban on Muslims; he actually ordered investigations into his adversaries; he really fomented a crowd movement when the election was not to his liking. But in other cases he ran into obstacles. And much of his strongman rants went unheeded.

This is how some of his voters think another term could go. This is how they rationalize his rhetoric by giving him a reverse benefit of the doubt. They doubt, he takes advantage of it.

Good for business

Last Thursday, in the middle of the day, in a small concert hall in downtown Detroit, we could see this phenomenon manifest very clearly.

Mr. Trump went there to address the Economic Club of Detroit. Presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all came to Michigan in their time to speak at this club.

There were a few hundred people. These were not the kind of people you would meet at a Trump rally. They weren’t construction workers, truck drivers, or forklift drivers; they carried business cards and had very active LinkedIn pages. They didn’t wear red hats or t-shirts with images of Trump’s bloodied face; they wore checked suit jackets, loafers and rather flashy cufflinks.

They didn’t want to hear about a “really violent day,” or the deep state, or the Marxists, or the fascists, or any of the other radical or anti-democratic visions that Trump describes in baroque detail during his gatherings.

They just wanted him to tell them he would be good for business.

That’s what he did. For almost two hours. His remarks were a little blunt and he talked about a stolen election, but mostly he made them feel good about choosing to vote for him. They laughed at his self-deprecating jokes about his age, his body, his hair and his wealth. He talked to them about powerful American cars and regaled them with stories about how he took on various world leaders and about his new friend, Elon Musk. They applauded when he told them his daughter Tiffany was pregnant and when he declared, improbable as it may seem, that he would work with Democrats to get things done. This was the version of Trump they (and their pension funds) wanted to believe.

It was easy for them to ignore the other versions of him.

“The media exaggerate”

“I think the media exaggerates things to sensationalize things,” said Mario Fachini, 40, of Detroit, a publishing house owner. His black hair was combed back and he wore a black pinstriped suit with a gold pocket square. Tiny models of globes hung from his cufflinks. He raised his wrist and spun one.

Tom Pierce, 67, of Northville, Michigan, didn’t really believe Trump would round up enough immigrants to carry out “the largest mass deportation operation in history.” Even though that’s pretty much the central promise of his campaign.

Did Mr. Pierce believe that Mr. Trump would actually impose 200% tariffs on certain companies? “No,” he replied. That’s another thing. Sometimes you have to scare these other countries. (Indeed. In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Mr. Trump said, “I use that as a number. I’ll say 100, 200, 500, I don’t care.”)

Pierce added: “He’s not perfect. And I don’t necessarily like his personality, but I like the way we’ve had peace and prosperity. »

“He’s showing off”

This dynamic is one that Donald Trump has had with voters since he burst onto the political scene nine years ago, and it endures, even if his language has darkened. In the latest survey New York Times-Siena College, 41% of likely voters agree with the statement that “people who are offended by Donald Trump take his words too seriously.”

“The normal rules just don’t apply to Donald Trump, and you’ve seen that time and time again,” said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster. Mr. Newhouse said he found in his polls and focus groups that “people think he’s saying things for effect, that he’s being a showoff, because that’s part of what he’s doing.” ‘he’s doing, of his game. They don’t believe it’s actually going to happen.’

But Mr. Trump and his inner circle said a second term would be different because he finally has a firm grip on his party and because many of the obstacles that previously slowed him have been shattered.

This is a key part of Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech to voters. “Understand what it would mean if Donald Trump were back in the White House without guardrails, because we now know the Court is not going to stop him,” she said during their debate. “We know JD Vance won’t stop him. »

Antidemocratic impulses

In Bob Woodward’s new book, General Mark Milley says the former president is “fascist to the core.” Milley is part of a long line of senior officials and military leaders who worked for Trump and later described having to constantly work to prevent him from acting on his most undemocratic impulses.

In Detroit, Mr. Trump told a version of that reality that was not entirely different. He lamented how his first term in Washington had gone, admitted that he didn’t know much about how the country worked and had to rely on people he couldn’t trust to carry out his wishes. . “I know the game a little better now,” he said.

But he also seems aware that many people question some of the words that come out of his mouth. Perhaps some of these people were present in this same room. Perhaps that’s why he launched into a rant about all the ways he thinks Democrats are screwing things up, before adding, “See, that’s the real threat.” for democracy: stupid people. »

The businessmen started to applaud.

This article was published in the New York Times.

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