Trump’s Total Cultural Victory

If you flew into Washington DC for the weekend preceding President Trump’s inauguration, you were met with an astonishing sight. Hundreds of people walking the streets, open-carrying MAGA hats. “Jesus is my saviour, Trump is my president” shirts and MAGA beanies streamed out of the Capitol One arena, following the inauguration-eve rally. During my visits to the capital of the Global American Empire across the last two years, I didn’t see anyone dare to wear Trump paraphernalia. But now, after winning all branches of government and the popular vote, there’s no doubt that Donald Trump has a mandate to govern.

This non-consecutive second term is a deep exhale for a febrile America. Citizens now have a permission slip to express their political preferences with confidence, as the First Amendment nominally protects. True, Joe Biden did win more votes than Donald Trump in 2020 — and more black voters than Obama, for that matter. But we must assume whole cemeteries stayed at home this time, unimpressed by what cackling Kamala Harris had to offer. There’s no denying it: Trumpamania is culturally ascendant.

For years, half of America concealed their support for Trump — fearing not just an uncomfortable conversation with incensed Democrats, but for their lives. A MAGA hat once came with the risk of unprovoked attacks. In 2020 Aaron Danielson was shot dead by “100% Antifa” activist Michael Reinoehl. BLM rioters shouted “We got another Trumper!” upon spotting Danielson, giving Reinoehl his whereabouts. (Reinoehl was later shot dead by police.) Shannon Brandt struck and killed 18-year-old  Cayler Ellingson with his SUV, telling police Ellingson was a “Republican extremist”. Wanting lower taxes, secure borders, and sex-segregated spaces protected was seen as worthy of your death warrant. 

Fortunately, after November 5th, the promised “Resistance” has failed to emerge. The response by Woke ideologues has been muted, impotent, and almost non-existent. It’s almost like they’re embarrassed to be in the minority for once. And who can blame them? Every attempt to slander Elon Musk as a Nazi, or call JD Vance as weird, or depict Donald Trump as a dictator just seems desperate. Acts of defiance, like Bishop-in-name-only Mariann Edgar Budde preaching the gospel of child mutilation and open borders during the Cathedral inauguration service, comes off as cringeworthy and improper. Concern-trolling by progressive “Christian leaders” is widowed by a waning spirit of the age, and inaudible to Trump’s supporters who take his claim that God spared his life in Butler Pennsylvania seriously. This is a sign that activists no longer have a monopoly on cultural capital — and that their reckless spending on lost causes has left Democrats in a deficit.

This feels like a purely organic changing of the political guard. Like all good political junkies, I crowdsource my vibe checks by polling Uber drivers. Of the handful I spoke to during my five day inauguration visit, none of them were white native-born Americans, and all of them voted Trump. All three prefaced their admission with, “Well, this might offend you, but…” before expressing optimism at the prospect of no more wars and an upwardly-mobile economy. One Asian driver explained how he sold a fleet of cars and closed his chauffeur business because COVID restrictions and inflation made it impossible to operate. Another, an Ethiopian migrant and citizen of twelve years, expressed frustration with all the illegal migrants jumping the queue, and said, matter-a-fact, “They have to go back.” The failures of the Biden administration were so self-evident and indefensible, that the formerly outlandish policies of Trump look necessary and sensible.

The same trend manifested among Gen Z. The feared and forecast gender divide didn’t materialise. American Moment’s watch party was packed with Zoomers in red hats. On Sunday the 19th, before attending the X event with our very own Ayaan Hirsi Ali, I visited a TikTok-sponsored influencer party. Per Mary Harrington’s mantra, that “Culture is downstream of what hot girls want”, the theme of the well-attended event was “Make America Hot Again”. Whereas Kamala’s campaign jumped aboard Charlie XCX’s “Brat” album, with an aesthetic of mascara-streamed, walk-of-shame hedonism, Trump’s organic appeal and contagious YMCA dance softened his image — from defeated felon to slightly-offensive grandfather — and won over a large swing of young women. This made MAGA hot-girl coded, and support for Trump a way of conferring social capital. Turns out, a life of loveless hookups, freakish haircuts, and a job as a Starbucks barista wasn’t appealing to attractive, intelligent women or the young men who want to marry them. Feminist grievance-mongering, uglifying gender queerness, and resentful race communism are all so last year.

This undeniable normalcy has led Trump to be embraced by household names and large corporations. Coca Cola gave the President a commemorative bottle of his famed favourite drink. Mark Zuckerburg ventured to Mar-a-Lago, repealed Meta’s censorious “misinformation” policies, and endured a three hour absolution session with Joe Rogan. Dana White, now on Meta’s board, invited Trump to UFC 309 — where the Madison Square Garden crowd cheered for the President-elect. Other celebrities like Zachary Levi (Shazam!) and Carrie Underwood partook in inauguration celebrations. In the ultimate endorsement, the Village People performed YMCA at the pre-inaugural rally, saying “everybody can enjoy their music, Republican or Democrat.” His opponents can shriek and scream, but Trump has become the mainstream.

And yet, Trump hasn’t  softened to seek broad approval. From his first day in office, he has kept his promises. Tom Homan has ensured that mass deportations are already underway. The millions who invaded America via the porous Southern Border under the Biden Administration will be denied asylum hearings and removed with haste. No longer will the nation’s generosity be exploited, and prosperity siphoned off to the third-world through remittances. The DEI grievance industrial complex has been defunded across the federal government. The dirty work of dismantling Deep State bureaucracy, and ridding it of Islamist infiltrators, is now down to Elon Musk and DOGE. After their Senate confirmation hearings, RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz will have a remit to remake the Department of Health, and end the chronic disease epidemic which is bankrupting the country through escalating healthcare costs. On day one, Trump abandoned Biden’s costly, Malthusian climate change policies via executive order. (In Biden’s defence, he had no idea he signed them…) America is back on the path toward energy independence and security. And Trump even stayed loyal to the libertarians who lent him their vote, pardoning Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. As JD Vance’s mentor, James Orr notes, this isn’t just a populist movement, but rather a professional outfit with a will and plan to govern. Truly, it looks like the dawn of a promised new golden age.

The UK boasts more civil servants per capita than China, more DEI employees per capita than anywhere else in the world, the highest tax burden since 1948, a national debt which equals 100 percent of GDP, record annual net migration of net-tax-recipients, and a capital city in which at least 1 in 12 is an illegal immigrant. It’s hard not to look across the Atlantic and be envious of our former colony. Hence why such a large delegation of English conservatives — including myself, Liz Truss, Nigel Farage, and Matt Goodwin — made the pilgrimage to pay homage to the new monarch of these United States. Given Trump’s affinity for his mother’s ancestral homeland, we patriots hope a cross-pollination of policy, and opposition to Keir Starmer’s agenda of decline, can set the stage for regime change come 2029. 

The best outcome of the second Trump presidency would be for a preference cascade to take place among America’s Western allies. Successful policies could be copied by insurgent national-populist parties, who have hitherto felt pressure to soften rhetoric to avoid slings and arrows from hostile media. Emboldening an international alliance of national conservatives to save their countries from the issues which unanimously ail them would produce geopolitical stability, economic prosperity, and renewed faith in a generation who are having too few children to sustain a civilisation. After all, who doesn’t want to see Great Britain made great again?

The vibe shift is undeniable. Runaway progressivism is in remission, and the sane, sensible majority of America’s population it made public enemy number one aren’t keen on bringing it back. Democrats have led themselves down an electoral blind-alley, with no option but to double-down on radioactively unpopular Woke social policies. Silicon Valley’s elite are defecting to Trumpism. The conservative movement is reinvigorated with an internet-savvy youthful exuberance. There are an abundance of eligible heirs to take up the mantle of Trumpism, and consolidate his historic coalition for generations. We can only hope it is contagious, and that Europe catches the cold which has bolstered America’s cultural immune system.