The Trump show is becoming more and more extreme – I have experienced it myself Ron DeSantis drops out of the race for the American presidency – and now supports Trump

It’s 9 p.m. and Donald Trump also seems to have had enough. The former president spoke for more than 100 minutes that evening to a packed arena in Manchester, New Hampshire. Now he’s doing some awkward dance moves to an old hit. He also points at me and says “Thank you very much”.

Or maybe he points to someone sitting right next to me. At Trump election rallies, the most fanatical supporters of the Republican presidential candidate stand in the front row in front of the stage, at a safe distance.

Mike Boatman, for example. The man in his mid-fifties is part of an informal group that calls itself the “Front Row Joes” and has been going from Trump event to Trump event since 2016. This is his 89th rally and once again Mike Boatman stays until the end.

When asked why he’s taking on this, Boatman says, “I want to show the next president that I support him – after everything he’s been through these last eight years.” In gratitude, Trump mentions the ‘Front Row Joes’ during his speeches, who wear homemade shirts. Sometimes he even dances for her.

And perhaps this dynamic, in a nutshell, explains why Trump persisted and was able to motivate thousands of people to wait for him for hours on this bitterly cold Saturday. When I show up outside the stadium in central Manchester around noon, seven hours before Trump’s speech starts, there are already dozens of people queuing in front of me.

In 2024, the well-choreographed Trump show is a closed society. You are part of a sea of ​​red hats that say “Make America Great Again.” And Trump cleverly abuses this constellation, although there are of course dozens of journalists from established media companies present that evening. He knows that because he speaks for so long — a typical speech by his rival Nikki Haley may last 30 minutes — the leading media have long since given up on documenting his every word.

That is fatal, according to evidence from Saturday. Because Trump, now 77 years old, is more extreme than ever before. And he makes no secret of it anymore. In New Hampshire, for example, he showered the Hungarian prime minister with praise, even though Viktor Orbán is not a well-known figure among the general American population. Trump says: “It’s good to have a strong man running the country.” He uses a term (“strongman”) that can also be translated as “authoritarian leader.”

Biden reportedly wants to start World War III

And so it happily continues. Trump calls his defeat in the 2020 presidential election “nonsense” because he will probably never accept that he was defeated by Joe Biden. He again insults the journalists present as “enemies of the people” and announces in ominous terms: “We must restore the free press” – even though this is in direct contradiction to the freedom of expression, which is enshrined in the constitution. And he describes the sitting president as a dictator because Biden reportedly wants to destroy American democracy and start World War III.

This rant ends with words that clearly summarize why Trump wants to run for president again. “Our enemies want to take my freedom, because I will never allow them to take your freedom,” he tells his followers – thus presenting himself as a modern political messiah.

That doesn’t necessarily make sense, because the civil and criminal legal issues Trump is grappling with have little to do with the daily lives of the average American. It is also incomprehensible why the ex-president once again calls for “total immunity” for all residents of the White House, but at the same time claims that Biden is a criminal.

The crowd is still roaring. Those present feel understood by Trump, also because he speaks so differently from normal politicians. “He’s just funny,” says a woman next to me who has traveled two hours. She says this as Trump admits on stage that he is “kissing some officials in the ass” because he depends on their support in the primaries.

But, and this is also new: unlike 2016 or 2020, the atmosphere in the arena never skips a beat. People boo loudly when Trump insults and insults his political competitors. They also shout at the journalists present, to whom they happily gave interviews before Trump’s speech began.

But the aggressive energy that was in the air at previous rallies and that led to attendees shouting battle slogans and seeking confrontation after his performances did not build this evening. Instead, everyone is nice to each other. You know each other.

This probably also has something to do with the fact that all the actors in the Trump show are now playing roles. The protagonist plays the would-be dictator (“but only on the first day”) and the audience wants to be entertained – by a man who breaks conventions and says what most of his followers only think. And because half the country no longer wants to see this spectacle, the shock will be even greater if Trump is elected for a second term in November. (aargauerzeitung.ch)