this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
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Yes and no. You're certainly right, most of Trump's popularity comes from Russian propaganda, and far more institutional issues like underfunded education, the blind eye to the Southern states after the Civil War, leftover Red Scare paranoia, and rampant lobbying.
That being said, using the disease metaphor, I think of Trump as more of a "complication" than a "symptom". Something that's drastically exacerbated a problem that was already there. Every other politician, even ones as corrupt and self-serving and dictatorial as him, all have to play the PR game and dress their rancid fantasies up as something that would benefit the public. Trump meanwhile, can transparently go back on every single promise, back stab his every last ally, out himself as perhaps the most prolific paedophile in human history, and order his fans into a street militia, and somehow, his supporters just accept it as part of his "brand".
The US was probably always going in this direction, but I still think it wouldn't have got here half as fast, maybe not even a third of the speed Trump's been disassembling it without him. I don't really know why Trump's popularity was never affected by his vile actions until this year - they would sink any other public figure. Maybe it's the right wing press playing defense for him at every turn, maybe it was his "joke candidate" status he earned back in 2015, maybe it's his history in the public spotlight. Whatever it is, far right politicians around the world have tried to replicate what Trump has, and they've all failed. Because of that, I still think that the Big Beautiful Obituary will be well worth celebrating!