The answer to how Trump has succeeded is really simple: He lies nonstop, and lying works. Sure, there are other factors in play—he tapped into and intensified a certain strain of profound proletarian resentment of liberal elites, and … well, that’s about it. But mostly, it’s the lies.
…And, to reiterate, Trump tells many such lies a day. He talks to the press two or three times a day most days, which probably adds up to what, 45 minutes, an hour? Spitballing it at one lie every two minutes, which may well be low, that’s around 25 factual lies a day.
One of the craziest things I saw in the 2016 election was when they showed Trump voters messages from real New Yorkers who talked about their hometown boy.
New Yorkers hated him for destroying a historic building façade he’d sworn to preserve; they hated him because he called for the lynching of the Central Park 5; they hated him for the way he treated his first wife; they just hated him.
The Trump people thought that if New Yorkers hated him he must be good.