In the end I think it’s not about ideas or the actual state of things, not about policy, but about Trump’s physical swagger and tone of voice. It’s all a put-on, of course, a bad acting job, but in its crude way matches what most American men want to see themselves as, and how women want to see men. And that parity he creates with this mob of his is enough to engender a kind of “faith” in all that he says – not thoroughly in all cases, but at least enough to get people to hold their nose and vote for him. It would be like if the “left” (there really isn’t a viable left in American politics) were to run Di Nero or Pacino, or even Harrison Ford. Someone who can play the so-called Alpha. The trouble is when women present as strong, the men in this country will call her “nasty.” We need to change culture, and that’s the egg shell that keeps breaking and causes all kinds of hysterical opposition.
Those who respond in this way to the fake alpha male act are always people with self-esteem issues, and that’s likely due in part to the decline of the labor movement. That’s another essay all together.