Watching the American Presidential election campaigning isn’t uplifting for me. Hearing the de facto Republication nominee speak is acutely dispiriting. Trump’s populist mocking of Parasite’s success at the Oscars does serve a lesson though.
Trump doesn’t need universal approval, but he does need support and having foregone rational argument he must play to the gallery. It’s a formula that brought him victory and draws large crowds keen to see their frustration (or an approximate of it) mouthed off on the national stage. Trump isn’t really leading though – he’s entrenching thoughts, feelings and grievances already held, not delivering a vision and taking the country toward it.
Winning is not the same as leading.