Trump’s Populism and the 2024 Election: Sustaining an Enduring Market Appeal
摘要
Trump’s personalized brand of populism produced distinctive strengths and weaknesses in the electoral realm. It had propelled him to a stunning and unexpected win in 2016 but had shown limitations in 2020, resulting in a comprehensive defeat in both the popular vote and the electoral college. Trump’s endorsement of predominantly unsuccessful candidates in the 2022 midterm elections had also potentially demonstrated that the Trump brand had a limited market appeal, albeit that Roevember issues dominated. In this chapter, Busby addresses the challenges Trump faced in advancing his distinctive populist brand. The populist dilemma of 2024 was whether to continue to sell the same populist product to the electorate, rebrand it, repackage it, or adapt it to reflect changed political circumstances. Busby evaluates the consistency of the populist product sold by Trump in 2024, and its ongoing market appeal nine years after it was first launched.