Yes. Think of it this way: How many people voted for Donald Trump the Republican politician, and how many voted for Donald Trump, star of The Apprentice, who plays the most successful businessman in America? https://twitter.com/wesleylowery/status/1349761082680889344

One reason I am a little skeptical that anyone currently within the GOP can rebuild the Trump coalition is that no one else has a lifelong celebrity brand that valorizes entrepreneurship and business success.

Yes! I was just about to make a similar point, which is if you break down the constituent parts of Trump's pre-political celebrity, it's not just "successful businessman" but "charming rogue" and "affable vulgarian." https://twitter.com/matthewfdesmond/status/1349764057184804866?s=20

From the aforementioned HOME ALONE 2 to his appearances on WWE, much of Trump's celebrity persona is this "winking artifice," which makes him especially well-suited to a political culture that is as concerned with entertainment as it is the duties of citizenship.

There are figures that have elements of Trump's persona — & can credibly claim to be political outsiders, which is an important part of the formula — but I can't think of anyone who marries them all into a single act and who also has the performance chops of a lifelong celebrity.

This is not to discount the fact that the Trump coalition consists of a lot of people who very much believe that Trump is serious about what he's selling (as well as ordinary partisan Republicans).

But I think his political magic, such that it is, is that he brought in a not-insignificant group of voters for who saw him as entertainment, and believed that whatever terrible thing he said, he didn't really mean it.

Anyway, if I'm reevaluating my takes about Trump from four years ago, the thing I absolutely discounted and got wrong was the power of his celebrity, which is why I'm thinking about it right now.

yep! for many people politics is a show he was the heel. https://twitter.com/aaronbachmann/status/1349767599345831936?s=20