this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2026
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I don't think age is an issue here. I think most people don'f trust the billionaires.
There's a number of older adults who do. They bought into the luxury of the Trump name and what it represents a long time ago. To hear them tell it, "Trump" means quality and business acumen.
I'm sure that at least some of them have changed their minds in recent years, but his base clearly hasn't.
This article isn't about trump though, it's about the AI billionaires.
‘Trump’ means ‘fart’ in British English
I had a conversation with my dad lately about wealth inequality, wherein he started defending Bill Gates, and I was both utterly baffled and incredibly dismayed.
You're right, but I still don't understand this. I grew up watching Trump drama in tabloids and rolling my eyes at Trump-branded products and I grew up fundie, rightwing, and abusively sheltered. He was always just the weird looking guy with bad hair and I never understood why people cared so much.
Because he was on TV and portrayed an absolute leader who gave decisive answers. He was the strong man lots of people want to be, on a scripted show designed to look like "reality".
He was in people's homes, in their living rooms, having dinner with them in their kitchens, relaxing in their dens and while they were making love in their bedrooms.
It's a form of intimacy to have a celebrity in one's home. A complete lie absolutely.. but there nonetheless.
The actor Tom Baker (Dr. Who "Doctor" #4) pointed this sense of false intimacy out in an interview he did decades ago, when talking about how some of his fans created an entire mythic life with him, where he was their best friend and confidante and expected a similar reaction from him, when they'd approach him at conventions which of course, he could not reciprocate.
Worst thing to happen for America was Mark Burnett getting Trump a TV show. It put a con-man into the most powerful office in the world.
I am 48 and Trump has been a public figure since i was a child. He was, however, mostly regarded as a punchline! We already used to joke about his incompetence in the 90s. I remember seeing a political cartoon as a child involving Trump and a panhandler - the punch line was that the panhandler had significantly more money (it was during one of his bankruptcies). When I heard Trump was running for president I thought it was a joke candidacy. Who could be his running mate - wily coyote?
When he won, I thought, "what the ever-loving fuck is wrong with Americans?"
Not once - not once - did I associate Trump with acumen, luxury, or quality.
He talked stupid and said bigoted things and connected with the dumber, bigoted half (30%?) of America. Simple as that.
It's people older than us. People who should remember the slums he was controversial for running, and his racist comments about the tenants living in them.
I watched a number of those shows about how Trump had a habit of not paying investors, worker, and vendors involved in his projects when they go belly up and I've literally seen people in their 60's, 70's, and 80's say that exact thing. It's crazy to me too, and those people are thinner on the ground every year, but they still count.
That's who those stupid ads with Melania eating diamonds were for. People like that.
Bigotry.
That's it.
He literally rode a wave of bigotry into the White House. Twice.
It shouldn't be some shocking surprise. The U.S. is a super bigoted nation. Most candidates just aren't willing to stoop that low. Donald Trump definitely is.
Back at the very beginning of all this when they were all parroting "he'll run it like a business" clearly unaware that his super power is tanking businesses, that's when I knew it was a cult.
There's a maga civil war, and blueanon is chipping away part of their base.
The grifters pushing the maga civil war are going to shift to push JD Vance though so there's only a short window where you can kind of capture them during the transition. The grifters are only becoming anti trump because they are influencers and their currency is views. They can't just tank the loss of income now that trumps becoming increasingly unpopular, especially on issues about Israel, Iran, affordability etc. Once Maga kinda catches up they'll then start giving them money to make some new "grass roots" network similar to Ben shaprios or turning point.