Nearly a decade after his first campaign, I believe Trump still retains the kind of shield that only celebrity can provide. It's all too easy to forget that Trump the politician was preceded by Trump the businessman, entertainer and tabloid fixture. After all, it wasn't that long ago that Trump was considered an American success story, a businessman with a rising track record and charisma, even though he is now a former president and currently the front-runner to retake the White House. He tried his hand at celebrity status, appearing alongside the likes of Taylor Swift and Martha Stewart in the film Home Alone 2, the hit TV series The Apprentice and ads for Macy's.
The allure of success is powerful. In our own lives, success takes many forms. Financial gains, professional honors, a happy family, etc. But for many, especially today's young Americans, fame and influence are aspirational and indicators of success. There's a reason why brands seek out celebrity spokespeople to promote their products. Perhaps we subconsciously assume that because someone is famous, they must be worth listening to.
Ms. Winfrey, Ms. Swift, Ms. Stewart and, yes, even Mr. Trump have long enjoyed the status of coveted celebrities that brings with them a host of benefits not enjoyed by traditional politicians: They are viewed by many as wealthy, successful, influential and entertaining, and their success in one area creates a halo effect, leading people to assume they must be talented in all areas.
Many of these celebrities have gone through their own trials (sometimes literal trials), and their victories have played out in very public ways, fostering fan bases invested in their success on a personal level. The relationship between celebrities and the general public is growing as people form “parasocial relationships” with major celebrities, believing themselves to feel that they somehow personally know the very famous people they see on screen. The emotional connection between politicians and voters is fundamentally different from that between politicians and voters.
After Trump won the 2016 Republican primary and subsequently won the White House, there was much discussion about his celebrity role in protecting him from criticism from his rivals. Efforts to portray Mr. Trump as bad at business have failed because they are too inconsistent with the image of a tycoon cultivated on television. Worse, the attempt to portray Trump as an aggressive bully backfired by reinforcing the image he was already building.
