The Six Teachings of Trump (2016 Edition)

Donald Trump is as popular with Americans as Pope Francis, a Gallup poll released Monday found.

It is this popularity that has seen Trump dominate Republican presidential polls, driving liberals and Establishment Republicans into a frenzied fit and upending everything pundits thought they knew about American politics. Indeed, the GOP Establishment vanguard is still trying hopelessly to explain away Trump’s success as some kind of freak aberration. Liberals within and without the Democratic Party are attributing Trump’s rise to an alleged appeal to the basest and most dangerous corners of populism.

But the truth is that for most of his supporters, Trump is a breath of fresh air in an overly stale political system, a system that to most Americans seems to be rigged in favor of the established few at the expense of the people, and in which inauthenticity appears to be an asset. Real people crave authenticity, something they feel has been missing from politics for a long time, and Trump gives it to them in spades.

Consider the following:

1. He speaks directly and plainly to Americans.
Trump doesn’t use airy, alienating language like many politicians. While most politicians want to sound like the smartest or cleverest man (or woman) in the room, Trump is content with being the most normal and straight-talking. He also, refreshingly, doesn’t seem to care one bit what other countries think of the United States. He’s an American, running for the American presidency, dependent on the votes of Americans. There is no doubt in the minds of most of his supporters that when he says he wants to make America great again, he means it. Democrats want America to be loved by the world, many Republicans want America to be feared and respected by the world, but Trump wants America to once again be the envy of the world.

2. He captures Americans’ frustrations with Washington.
Trump is able to do this in a way career politicians simply can’t. It’s all well and good for a Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to talk about the “Washington Cartel,” but the fact is that Cruz, whatever his feelings on it or depth of involvement with it may be, is part of that cartel. Trump, while certainly not an everyman, is the proverbial “normal” — read nonpolitical — man who has simply had enough and takes it upon himself to get involved. His gripes with Washington come across as refreshingly nonideological because they aren’t. He’s not rooting for the Blue team or the Red team, but the red, white, and blue spectators forced to watch the same farce in Washington year after year.

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3. He gives speeches without notes.
This might not seem obvious to the Beltway crowd — and sure, his off-the-cuff style can lead to the odd random tangent or two — but people respect the fact that Trump can get behind a podium and speak for an hour or more with no notes. In a world of slick suits and overly rehearsed, sound-bite laden speeches, Trump’s ability to wing it is like a cool drink of water after six hours wandering through a hot desert. It also gives him an opportunity to interact with the crowd during his appearances, which makes those who attend his rallies feel as if they are part of the Trump campaign and not spectators to it.

4. He is financially independent.
This is certainly one of his biggest pros as far as his supporters are concerned, and admittedly one that is nigh impossible for Establishment politicians to duplicate. The power and influence lobbyists have in Washington, D.C., make most sane, normal people sick to their stomachs, and it is an obvious betrayal of everything this country was meant to represent. To his supporters, Trump’s vast wealth inoculates him from the nefarious influence and control of lobbyists and monied interests. Moreover, that financial independence is proof of his business acumen, and held as evidence for his natural abilities for the role of commander in chief.

5. He calls a spade a spade.
Trump calls it like he sees it, which in this day and age puts him head and shoulders above most politicians in the eyes of the public. This was in full display Christmas weekend, as the Donald attacked Hillary Clinton for her hypocrisy in calling him out for a “penchant for sexism” while simultaneously sending Bill Clinton out on the campaign trail. Trump doubled down the following Monday, tweeting “if Hillary thinks she can unleash her husband, with his terrible record of women abuse, while playing the women’s card on me, she’s wrong!” Everyone and their mother knows about Bill Clinton’s deviant exploits, but Trump is apparently the only one not afraid to say something about it.

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6. He’s politically incorrect in a world where political correctness rules the day.
In a world in which a day doesn’t go by without some snot-nosed college student crying about “safe spaces” or “trigger warnings” or “micro-aggressions,” in which a new letter seems to be added or removed from “LGBTQ” every other day, in which Christmas is sacrificed for bland, nondenominational “winter celebrations,” and in which a man can be named woman of the year, Trump’s refusal to play the politically correct game is — to many voters — just about the best thing ever. There are many who say what everyone else is thinking, but Trump is the first one to run for president. Whether it’s saying that many illegal aliens from Mexico and other parts of Central and South America are criminals, or that Syrian “refugees” should be kept out of the country until and unless it can be proven they’re not terrorists, Trump’s apparent immunity to politically correct pressure sets him apart from any candidate we’ve seen in the past three decades.