Trump Doesn’t Win by Bread Alone
Donald Trump offers a bleak vision of the good life, founded on hierarchy and self-indulgence. The Left needs to put forward a politics that can counter the affective pleasures of Trumpism, rooted in solidarity rather than cruelty and exclusion.
US president Donald Trump speaks on June 6, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
On the eve of his second inauguration, Donald Trump launched his own meme coin, the perfectly named $TRUMP. Let’s leave aside the fact that many of Trump’s most committed and gullible followers are about to lose huge sums of money, if they haven’t already. Look instead at Trump’s announcement of the coin on social media, which is something of a skeleton key to Trumpian ideology and its sources of appeal.
My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to https://t.co/GX3ZxT5xyq — Have Fun! pic.twitter.com/flIKYyfBrC
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2025
Here we see three of Trumpism’s main offers, neatly summarized in a single Trump post. First is “WINNING!,” with the requisite capitalization and punctuation, reminiscent of tiger blood–era Charlie Sheen. Second is membership in a “very special Trump Community.” Third is the paternal injunction to “Have Fun!”
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