• dead [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    25·
    10 days ago

    I don’t think anyone believes that this stunt was meant to appeal to service workers. If you watch the stream, Trump interacts with people as if he is walking around a zoo. It’s poverty tourism. The stunt is meant to appeal to people who enjoy poverty tourism. The stunt is meant to normalize treating service workers as if they are not humans. This is what appeals to many Americans.

      • anarcho_blinkenist [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
        10·
        10 days ago

        that said I do think it is genuinely meant to appeal to (or rather pander to) service workers as per the campaign, just like going into local businesses and engaging with the staff, and hand-shaking with unions, etc. that politicians always do. These people are just incapable of selling it. I think this event is a strategized Republican attempt shake off some of the ‘elitist’ vibe that is so alienating about both parties, but that the Democrats being unashamed about is a point of Republican attack against them (and the Trump campaign picking up reactionary unions and talking about “jobs” all the time and how ‘Democrats outsourced and ruined all the jobs’ is part of this strategy and trajectory). It’s just that Trump is a billionaire — they are incapable of treating other humans like full people, even other rich. Just like Hillary was incapable of not acting aghast at working class living conditions. That wasn’t the goal of the event, but it’s who she is, in the class to which she belongs.