I Thank God That Trump is Alive

You get to bear witness to and participate in the most amazing moments in history

Jason: Just pretend for a second that the bullet was actually divine intervention and God is winking at us. Now think of the objective facts of this man. He is famous for being rich and living in a golden tower with his name on it in the middle of the greatest city in the world. What is his message? We are the greatest people ever and we will be greater than ever before. Think bigger. Dream bigger. I will teach you. I have power over death. Fight! Fight! Fight!

Jason: You couldn't write this.

Jason: This is the beginning of history.

America is the greatest most bravest charmingest new beautiful besting country on Earth. The same is true of its people. Americans are the greatest new most beautiful good. This is why I love America, a vision of a more wonderful future. And it's because I love America that I love Donald Trump. America belongs to Trump.

Donald Trump built the United States of America. In the future, historians will remember this period of history as the Trump Era. Everything that came before Trump is only preamble, because we have the most potential that has ever existed in human history. And we had forgotten to believe in America, until Trump.

Everything that's deeply American from this period comes back to Trump. Trump is iconic. Trump is everywhere, it's impossible to ignore him. He built Trump Tower at the center of New York and became synonymous with the city's upswing in the 80s. He built a chain of luxury hotels around the world with his name, right as American business norms were conquering the world. Trump was in New York, Trump was in Vegas, Atlantic City, Chicago. He did a stint in WWE, he was friends with Mike Tyson and Muhammed Ali, he donated early venue space to Dana White and the UFC. Trump ran one of the most successful reality TV shows ever made. And then The Apprentice made a celebrity spin-off. Trump did commercials for Pizza Hut; he is famous for eating McDonalds and drinking Diet Coke. (Trump is right about burgers, they’re the best food in the world.) He owned and ran Miss USA, and famously dated supermodels. He organized an alternative football league to the NFL, and almost defeated their monopoly in court. He was in New York for 9/11. Trump's political mentor, Roy Cohn, was Joseph McCarthy's chief aid. Trump is everywhere, a long-standing symbol in popular culture, TV, and hip hop, a synonym with a big attitude and success. Capitalism, globalism, media, fast food, sports, celebrity -- it becomes hard, in the big picture, to look deeply into America at the turn of the Millennium and not somewhere find Donald Trump.

Et cetera, et cetera, etc.

Of course, all of this was preamble, and none of it would be especially important, except for what came next: On June 15th, 2015, Donald Trump came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower and pronounced a new political vision that changed the course of American history.

Our country is in serious trouble. We don’t have victories anymore. We used to have victories, but we don’t have them. […]

So ladies and gentlemen…I am officially running… for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again. […]

But if I get elected president I will bring it back *bigger and better and stronger than ever before*, and we will make America great again. […]

For ten years Donald Trump has been at the center of American political life. Everything revolves around him. He has completely reoriented American political life. He is one of the most important figures in American history. And yet, few people understand *why*. Everyone their own theory. But no one listens to the man himself.

The reason for Trump's enduring popularity is contained directly in directly in every appeal Trump has ever made: Trump wants to Make America Great Again, *Greater Than Ever Before*.

Trump built a tower to himself at the center of the world, put his name on it, and came down a golden escalator to lead us. We’ve forgotten how to win, we’ve fallen behind, but we’re not ordinary, we’re extraordinary, we can fight, we can win, we can win bigger than anyone has ever won before, we’re going to win so much we’re going to get tired of winning, and then we’ll keep winning, it will be easy, we’re so talented, we deserve to win, we’re going to fight, we’re going to win! You don’t know how to win — but he will teach you!

Trump is preaching the New Testament of American success. The Trump Era isn't about just fixing the roads or bringing the factories back. The Trump Era is the unwavering, irrational, crazy-wrong belief that America is only getting started. The Trump Era is about dreaming impossible dreams. The Trump Era is about running for President, the highest office, as a private citizen, against all odds, and winning against all precedent.

The Trump Era was when everything became a computer, and social media over politics -- and the most prolific poster in the world was Trump.

The Trump Era was when Elon Musk built rockets that could land in the sky. The Trump Era was when Elon Musk sent spaceships to Mars. Or, it's possible, the Trump Era was the last time in history when men dreamed they could.

This is what America does, it uses unprecedented wealth to plant flags on the moon and create a new world that’s greater than anything ever before.

Many friends accuse me of being irrational, a silly story with no basis in fact. But what I'm describing is literally true: this is how history works. Nobody will remember, twenty years from now, the details of every little dislocality. Nobody will care about Stormy Daniels, or Michael Cohen, or whatever other story is dredged up for the day-to-day. Nobody remembers Napoleon's day-to-day, or every controversy of FDR. People remember that Napoleon won great battles, or lost them, and that even when he was defeated his enemies were changed so profoundly that the whole era was called Napoleonic. Nobody remembers who FDR was fighting with or the minor stresses of his reign: they remember that he lead America during the Depression, and World War Two, and proclaimed a new vision of America wrapped up in the New Deal. This is what Trump is doing. This is what the figure of Donald Trump *means*. This is how history is made.

People already say that Trump decided to run for President in 2012, as revenge. Trump was at the White House Correspondents Dinner, where Obama was giving the traditional speech. Trump had recently attacked Obama's birth certificate, and so Obama gave Trump a dressing down. Obama had the whole room laughing at Trump, who could be seen glowering behind his plate. After that, the story goes, Trump decided to run for President. Is it true? I can find no evidence anywhere that this is how it really happened. Trump had already dipped his toes in presidential politics in 2012. And he almost decided not to run in 2016. But who cares? Everybody likes this story, everybody wants to imagine that Trump ran as a direct rebuke to Obama, some karmic narrative truth.

The point is that Trump is history, he is the main character of the world, he's the Avatar of America.

Everything comes together in Butler Pennsylvania.

Butler Pennsylvania was a miraculous intervention of fate. Donald Trump is giving his speech, in front of thousands of people, the hot summer sun. He's standing on the platform. He turns his face, and he get shot in the head. We have photos of a bullet flying across space right next to Donald Trump's head. And he goes down. The crowd screams. Everything hinges. Butler Pennsylvania becomes a stage for the world, a stage for all time, Donald Trump is there, standing before history, being judged. He could have died, people don't know if he did die. He's alive, he stands up, he's being carried away. He could say anything, he could say anything, anything he says would be remembered, history is judging. And after being shot in the head and dodging bullets what does Trump do? He pumps his fist and chants: Fight! Fight! Fight!

This was one of the greatest things to ever happen in American history. Trump came down the escalator, massively successful, happy family, great fortune, modestly loved as a TV celebrity. He didn't have to do anything. And he came down the escalator, and said that the whole system was wrong, America deserved better, and he could fix things. America deserved to win again. And at first no one believed him, and no one believed in him, and then he kept fighting, and he rose in the polls, he won the Republican primary, he won the most impossible election in 2016, he was impeached, impeached again, thrown out of office, indicted, slandered, hated, and he never stopped fighting. The whole world was against this man and he did not stop fighting. He didn't have to do any of this. He could have stayed in Trump Tower. But he came down to Make America Great Again, to teach us how to win: Fight!

This is a spiritual movement. This is a spiritual realignment. And by “spiritual” I do not mean religion or church. MAGA is about self-belief, it’s about the audacity to dream that we really are the greatest people on Earth. Questions about policies or taxes or laws are missing the point. Questions about all the problems America faces are missing the point. Before we can fix America, before we can Make America Great Again, we have to believe in America, we have to love America and feel passionate powerful cringe feeling faith. This is what Trump did. Back when nobody believed he could ever be president, the most implausible thing in the world, and nobody could even imagine it, because it was obviously a joke — he believed in it. He believed in American greatness. He believed he could be the greatest man on Earth. And everyone was wrong and Trump was right. (Repent, doubters, it’s not too late.)

Trump is the main character, this is the Era of Trump. He is like some impossible shonen anime Hollywood action fighter hero, who defeats his enemies and turns them to his side. Elon Musk, the next most amazing man of the age, the man who is building rockets that land in the air, went from hating Trump to proclaiming Trump the last hope for Western Civilization. The Republican Party went from despising Trump to being remade in his image. RFK, the scion of the Kennedys, the most famous president to be shot, ran the largest independent campaign in 30 years, and then joined with Trump. JD Vance once compared Trump to Hitler, Tulsi Gabbard was No. 2 at the DNC, Megyn Kelly went from sparring with Trump over controversial remarks to campaigning with him on stage. Many of Trump's greatest allies were once his enemies. That's how that works: If you're beautiful enough you win and people join you with the power of friendship. That's not a silly fantasy for children, that's just literally how the world works when you believe.

Remember where we were before Trump. America had a broken heart. "Anger. There's plenty of anger right now. The world is a mess." We wasted billions of dollars and millions of lives in fruitless wars around the world. Factories were shutting down and leaving. Houses were getting more expensive. Proclamations that the American Dream was dying and dead. The planet is burning, climate change killed it. Maybe if we buckle up and suffer together we will all survive the worst. Obama came and promised Change and delivered little. Things seemed to be getting worse, and everyone talked about the Dying American Dream. And all the smartest people I knew were talking about Civilization and Collapse. The West was over, the politicians were killing it, let's sit around and get high ride the decline hunker down retreat pray love waiting for Caesar. We won't get to see him, but maybe our grandchildren's grandchildren will.

And then Trump came down the escalator. And America is the greatest country on Earth. And it’s fun to be a winner. And, Oh, I thank God that Trump is alive.

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Q: What if you're wrong about everything? What if Trump loses? What if he dies or gets shot or goes to jail?

In Frank Herbert's Dune, Paul Atreides begins having messianic visions of the future. In these visions, Paul sees his actions begeting a chain of events that leads to mass space genocide. His leadership inspires his people until they are spiritually transformed. Crucially, Paul sees that even if he were to die or be martyed before the time comes, it's already too late for him to stop the future. If he were dead his followers would remember his legend and be inspired just the same. Space genocide is coming. This is what it means to believe in Making America Great Again. If Trump loses, it's because we didn't dream big enough, and the future belongs to those who will. Trump could be jailed or shot, the election stolen, the Republican party disbanded by force and all manner of implausible hyperbole -- and this would only be a speedbump on the great revival that is coming.

Q: This essay is embarrassing.

Thank you.

Q: Trump is wrong about tariffs.

Trump is right about Tariffs. Trump is right about everything.

Q: How much do you lift bro?

I bench 300 lbs.

Q: Trump and MAGA are based on hate, why would you support that?

Trump's vision is about love: love for America, love for the idea of America, love for the people who are building the New World and will make a future greater than any ever before.

Q: Isn't Trump a conman and a liar and a fraud? This is just a cult. You're deranged and need to see reason.

Trump is one of the greatest men alive. He lives in a giant golden tower with his name on it, synonymous with money, great father, loved by his children and all his exes, funniest man in politics, wildly successful at everything he's tried to do. His generosity is told in thousands of stories of humble charity to the common man. People love Trump because he loves them. He fights for his people. Loyalty to this man isn't irrational, it's the most rational.

Q: Trump's temperament is vile. He's a threat to our democracy. How can you follow a man like that?

Trump came up in New York dealing with the gossip tabloids of Page Six, and then WWE, and The Apprentice. Trump is a master of television. He mastered the soundbite long ago, which explains why he is the most celebrated writer of tweets in the world. But those soundbites aren't the real Trump. They're products of a media hyperreality that produces infinite scrolls of content. But that media hyperreality isn't reality. The Trump soundbites on TV are a character. He will happily go from insulting "Lyin' Ted Cruz" to praising Cruz as a powerful ally and friend. Trump doesn't live in that hyperreality himself. The larger part of the TV Trump character is created by the media construct. You can watch longform Trump speeches or his three hour podcast interviews and see what he's really like, and what a deep thinker he is. Most people think they know so much about Trump, but have never really tried to watch him.

Q: Maybe Trump will win, but how can you believe in the Trump Era? This is irrational, America will die like every other empire, civil war is coming or the collapse of the dollar or the end of America’s strength.

America is not like other nations. We aren’t going to die, we’re going to live forever. Rome lasted for two thousand years because every crisis was solved by Rome’s brightest citizens rising to leadership at every crisis. And America is better than Rome, because we’re the greatest country on earth. We have more human potential than has ever existed at one time in the history of mankind. Maybe your country is doomed, because you don’t actually believe in your own greatness. But if you believe, you can choose to be great.

Q: But what about his policies? Aren't tariffs stupid? His tax policy isn't going to work. And what about foreign policy? Isn't he going to do a lot of damage?

"Policies" don't matter as much as the men who make them. Policies can change. But, basically, all of Trump's policies are correct. He's a smart man with a deep knowledge of how to build things. He generally knows what he's talking about, far more so than the stupid politicians and journalists kept informed by special interests and lobbyists. Trump is not the ideologue. It's the people who cannot see Trump's obvious virtues who are, in fact, the ideologues. There is, in fact, a silly tendency for people to tediously criticize his policies to prove that they're not *like* Trump. They might vote for Trump, but only critically. They think it's low class to believe in simple ideas, and they can't accept that Trump is better than them.

Q: This is ridiculous. Trump is a loser and coward. He will go down in infamy.

Trump is objectively the most successful man alive. He built a tower at the city at the center of the world and filled it with gold and put his name on it. He’s famously wealthy and successful in every domain he’s attempted. He has a large family of good kids who love him. He dates supermodels. His ex-wives endorse him. And then he had unprecedented success in running for President of the United States without any political experience (“unprecedented” means nobody had done it before). Trump is the most loved and most feared man in the world, and it's our small souls that have kept us from seeing what's right in front of us. Trump is the hero of our age. People will be talking about him, and us, for hundreds of years. They will be jealous that we were allowed to bear witness, that we were a part of history. This is the beginning of a Great Revival, the realization that America is the greatest country on earth, and we can do anything, and we can be good. America is the greatest thing to happen in the history of the West. And Donald Trump built this movement himself, back from when no one believed he could possibly be President. And he built this movement out of love.