Stig Even Lillestøl (28) from Nordfjordeid in Vestland can pinpoint the exact time when he became interested in politics. The year was 2015 and he listened to the podcast Painkiller Already, which is about gaming and computer games. But in the last year, the hosts had also talked quite a bit about Donald Trump, which they thought was completely easy. The astonishment was therefore great when election day came around, and the presenters revealed who they wanted to vote for. The man they had made fun of was the same one they wanted to vote for: Trump. – Then I became curious, says Stig Even. – What is it about politics that is so important that it overshadows everything else? Why was what Trump represented more important than what he said and did? The search for answers went from Unge Venstre membership to Fpu office, and then Stig Even stood out as a “Trump understander”. Not a passionate “Trump supporter”, but a supporting player just the same. – He could have been less rowdy and more like Ronald Reagan, but that is not the point, he says. – The essential thing is that he gives hope and stands upright in the rain of bullets. He shows that it is still possible to be direct and honest. – Honest? – No, iron it out. But he is authentic. He communicates a deeper truth. According to an Ipsos survey, almost half (47 percent) of Norwegian men between the ages of 18 and 29 reason the same way: They would vote for the Republican presidential candidate if they were Americans. Below are seven explanations for why Donald Trump went down well with young Norwegian men. Trump, the client “In all the negativity surrounding Trump, it is easy to forget how good he is at talking up his own voters”, writes political scientist Ketil Raknes in Morgenbladet. Where Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden have characterized the Trump supporters as “deplorables” and “garbage” respectively, Trump has given them a grand mission: They are called to rebuild a new kingdom. The American writer Sam Harris takes it one step further. “Trump is fat Jesus,” he says. Namely, Trump can offer something the church cannot: No forgiveness of sins, but the prospect of a new world without shame. A value where you can walk with your head held high. Several people have pointed to this as the core of the Maga movement: a desire to be seen and counted with, and not written off as redundant. Trump dressed up as a garbage man after his supporters were called “garbage”. Photo: AP Trump, the internet icon Many of Trump’s most provocative acts are quickly turned into memes in social media. It can express political support, or it can be “trolling”. For the Trump camp, it is secondary anyway how sincere the support is. The aim is to take up as much “bandwidth” as possible. And the more serious the warnings against Trump are, the more festive it is to make fun of them. Fpu leader Simen Velle and Subjekt editor Danby Choi are symptomatic of this internet culture. Both are ambivalent about Trump, but both have also agreed that he is “cool” and “contrary”. You probably figured it out, but this image is AI-generated, not real. Photo: Screenshot Trump, the radical The American author Rob Henderson introduced the term “luxury events” earlier this year. A luxury attitude is politically correct opinions that the bearer of the attitude adorns himself with. For example, the “right” view of the climate, immigration and gender debate. The bearer has the “right” attitude to everything, but never pays the price. Before, it was money and consumption that signaled who was high on straws. Today there are “luxury events”. Trump is a finger in the eye of these scapegoats, and changes who we classify as high and low: The last shall be the first, and the first the last. Trump, the limitless New attitude surveys show that more people do not dare to say what they think, for fear of sanctions. Trump is perceived as an antidote to this. He talks like we used to talk before. Nothing is too rough and no toes too sore. Where the rest of the political elite strives to maintain the rules for what is tactful, inside and good tone, Trump has refined the art of speaking “straight from the liver”. This is how he bends the regulations for ceiling height and expands the political corridor of opinion. And if he also waltzes over the common good and their fantasies about a “cleaner” public, it’s just a bonus. – Good politics must trump sleazy tactics. With over half a million injured and killed in Ukraine and tens of thousands killed in the Middle East, the importance of good foreign policy becomes greater than Trump’s ego and rowdy behaviour, says Stig Even. Photo: Tom Nicolai Kolstad Trump, the boundary-setter Many young people who support Trump maintain the anti-globalist rhetoric and the focus on protectionism and traditional values. Behind all his bluster and swagger, this has been Trump’s theme song since he came down the escalator in 2015: Less free trade and higher tariff walls. Even if Norway has other assumptions, the message of “America first” and a former golden age (“great again”) appeals to those who want to emphasize national interests more strongly. Trump, team leader JD Vance, Ben Shapiro, Bret Weinstein, Jordan Peterson and other internet intellectuals have all come to the same realization: The first impression scared them, but then they came to the conclusion that Trump is pursuing a policy they can vouch for. None of them are blind to his negative sides, and none of them harbor any illusions that he is the ideal team leader. But they agree on this: Politics is not so much about being deep-minded, kind or morally upright. It is about safeguarding interests. And therefore Trump is the only possible team leader for this team at this point in history. JD Vance – who compared Trump to Hitler a few years ago – has subsequently taken on the job as his deputy. Stig Even Lillestøl met Jordan Peterson when he was visiting Norway. Photo: Private Trump, the cross-bearer Trump has promised to protect religious freedoms, whatever the cost. But island! He pays porn stars to shut up. Isn’t that a problem? No, not necessarily. That makes him a sinner, in the company of all others who call themselves Christians. The decisive thing is that the sin is not defended. Not that you never fell for it. Everyone does. Only the hypocrites will claim otherwise. Elizabeth Dias, author of What Did Jesus Ask?, has traveled from church to church and found what should perhaps be revealed: The Christian Trump voter does not hold his nose. On the contrary. He is elated. And Trump’s form is not a source of embarrassment. Rather the opposite. A source of joy – because he drives the liberal and secular elites crazy. Published 04.11.2024, at 05.07
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