Trump can still showboat his way to the White House

No modern politician knows how to make an entrance like Donald Trump, but his uncommon talent for working crowds has to overcome his ability to alienate half the electorate.

They say a week is a long time in politics – but when it comes to the US presidential race, 24 hours seems an eternity.

It was a little over a week ago that Kamala Harris had all the momentum following the success of the Democratic National Convention, surging in the polls and grabbing the lead in key swing states across America’s Rust Belt and the Midwest.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is great at communing with “his people” at rallies, but his disrespect of women is notorious.  AP

Yet within 24 hours, the Harris campaign was rocked by the bombshell of former Democrat royalty Robert F. Kennedy jnr withdrawing from the race and endorsing Donald Trump.

The resulting shock has seen the race tighten dramatically, with Trump once again finding his nose in front in national polls. The lead is not at the levels seen before Biden’s withdrawal, but it’s enough to spook the Harris camp.

Harris has subsequently given her first interview as the Democratic nominee on CNN. She handled it well, which should have been expected given she was not alone, and had soft questions served up from a friendly journalist.

RFK’s decision was important for Trump and his team who were (despite the constant talk of Biden stepping aside) stunningly unprepared for a Kamala Harris campaign.

In politics, timing is everything. Whilst a relatively known commodity as vice president, the odds were very much against Harris reaching the White House given the limited time to November.

Instead, Harris has exposed one of Trump’s great weaknesses – his urge to undermine women. Who could forget the insulting remarks towards women he dislikes, his focus on looks, and his infamous “grab ’em by the pussy” comments.

What Trump does is quite frankly hypnotic and the closest thing to Hitler’s magnetism we have seen in the modern world.

Add in the allegations of E. Jean Carroll, Stormy Daniels and the overturning of Roe versus Wade, and it is not difficult to see why he struggles to attract the votes of suburban women. In criticising Harris, his sexist tone and descriptions do not help with this key demographic.

Given all we know about Trump, how is it possible that he remains within touching distance of a return to the White House?

The answer is that the president will not be elected on policy, but rather on how their body, voice and word flow are interpreted by a wide-eyed and vulnerable audience.

One can’t help but be fascinated by Trump’s extraordinary ability, despite his character flaws, to captivate tens of millions of voters in the US.

What Trump does is quite frankly hypnotic and the closest thing to Hitler’s magnetism we have seen in the modern world.

Making an entrance is his forte. He knows how to use his eyes with the crowd, move to the spatial position of importance, stop suddenly, face the audience front on, then open his arms and display his body. These techniques attract attention, signal power and exude trust, for which the ancients had a name – “gravitas”.

Trump’s eye contact is faultless, guiding the eye of the listener is his mastery. His long, strong, congruent gestures are a weapon of captivation. Although he can often opt for the concertina organ gesture as a fallback, his pointing to the crowd, forming a fist and holding his arms wide with palms forward is where the hypnotism begins.

He uses a simple and limited vocabulary with words such as “nice” or “big”. His ability to depict himself as the “good guy” and others as the “bad guy”, is childlike but effective, as is his constant hyperbole (is there such a thing as a “very” innocent man?).

An area that sets him apart from others is his audience work. He always begins by flattering his spectators. He then plays the crowd like an instrument and the audience sing along with what the ancient Romans called “acclamations”.

Then there are the lists of three, three repeated words and overall frameworks of three. The Roman saying “Omne trium perfectum” (everything in threes is perfect) is something Trump gets, double-dosing this out to his assembled crowd.

Vocally, his voice is fit and strong. He is clever with his creative enunciation, like the way he signals contempt with the word “China” or when saying “Kamala”, smacking his mouth wide on each vowel and holding his mouth open at the end of the word, making it sound derisive.

Everything Trump does is deliberate. When considering the marathon of drama around him from which he keeps rebounding, it must be admitted that Trump is an icon of endurance and energy for his 78 years.

Cult leaders don’t easily lose their following. Once they are entrenched they are hard to remove, and Trump is the first politician in generations to recognise the audience as a critical part of political engagement – a key component of gravitas.

The September 10 debate, which will see Kamala Harris alone and with nowhere to hide, will be crucial to the outcome of the presidential race. What I will be watching for is whether Trump can park his misogyny and deliver a commanding performance. If he fails, then so will his campaign to return to the White House.