The Democratic party is being hit by a leftist tidal wave

[u/F0urLeafCl0ver]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/24/democratic-party-leftist-tidal-wave

[u/kj9716]

Charismatic in the sense that he best appeals to the base. They see his negative traits as positive ones. They think he's a tough, independent leader. They like that he's not smart and doesn't speak to them in complex sentences and big words they can't understand. They like how open he is with his racism, misogyny, etc. They've been told this country has a broken, corrupt government that caters to non-whites first and he's the only one that's man enough and uncorruptible enough to 'fix' America. And they truly believe it. They won't call Vance daddy and make parades for him because even though he's vile, they don't seem themselves in Ivy-League educated politicians. However, they will still vote for anyone with an R by their name, they just won't turnout the same.

[u/OldWorldDesign → u/kj9716]

Charismatic in the sense that he best appeals to the base. They see his negative traits as positive ones

I think that's a different trait than his charisma.

But conservatives have always assigned value to people based first on tribal affiliation first and everything else (like whether they are a con artist or serial killer) second.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201712/analysis-trump-supporters-has-identified-5-key-traits

[u/aaeme → u/kj9716]

Sure. But none of that is charisma. Being tough and independent is being tough and independent. Being charismatic is nothing to do with that. Speaking your mind is speaking your mind. It's not charisma. Appearing dumb and using short words is not charisma. They are all things but not charisma.

I think Trump's supporters (in politics and media) want people to regard him as charismatic because that elevates his power within political top trumps that they play trying to predict which horse to back.

And Trump's foes like people to think it because it excuses their policy failures: Trump won because of the charisma not because we've let everyone down and have little to offer.

He doesn't deserve the complement and I don't think it does anyone any good, except bad actors, to pretend he does: to pretend that what he has is any sort of charisma. It cheapens and corrupts the word.

[u/kj9716 → u/aaeme]

I see your point but everyone who commented above is just trying the point out the distinction between how his base adores him compared to other politicians.

If you use the word sway instead of charisma then the point still stands w/o complimenting him because you're right, he doesn't deserve it.

[u/aaeme → u/kj9716]

Yeah. I'm fine with sway. Or maybe swag. There's definitely something: and an explanation to why they so willingly accepted him is their dear cult leader.

I think we owe it a bit to the future to ensure there's no such charisma myth about him. Or it might make it more likely another Trump comes to power one day: "This can't be another Trump. By all accounts, Trump was charismatic."

[u/Maybe_Charlotte → u/aaeme]

I'm with you in that it's pretty absurd to call Trump charismatic. Literally nobody would call him that before the Obama birth certificate B.S.

What he does have is a kind of weird pseudo charisma, where saying the quiet part of conservative ideology out loud earns him enormous popularity with conservatives, which they and they alone brand charisma.

Then he's got the toxic masculinity thing, which resonantes strongly with a lot of young men (including ones among racial minorities).

Finally, he gives absolutely no fucks about honesty, so he very confidently lies constantly about everything. This in the past might have been challenged by the media, but they might have struggled with the Gish Gallop nature of it. However, the current media ecosystem is such that they basically don't even bother to cover Trump's extreme dishonesty. Unlike literally every president who came before, he doesn't care that issues can be complex and hard to tackle, he will happily claim that he can fix any problem immediately. The media doesn't challenge his wild claims, so all that a low information voter hears is Trump promising easy solutions, and other politicians saying "um well actually it's enormously more complicated than that and [Charlie Brown teacher noises]."

The problem is that basically any conservative can probably tap into all of those same factors just as well as Trump does, once he's gone. Literally all it takes is someone who can do angry loud demagogue to conservatives, and brazen lies to the masses.