The Libidinal Economy of Trumpism

The left populists such as Thomas Frank have decided that trumpism's appeal is strictly materialistic, that he basically capitalized on the precariousness of the white male worker abandoned by Democratic policy. And I'm sure there is plenty of regional truth to this narrative. But it is hardly the whole story. Yes, certain US workers have been left behind by neoliberalism and the global economy. Wages have been stagnant forever and inequality has hit absurd levels. There is no doubt resentment with "coastal, liberal elites" and other economic forces are in play. But what I see missing from this narrative is the psychosexual aspect of Trump worship, that force operating at the sub or unconscious level of desire. To ignore the autoerotic and aesthetic elements at play in the conservative psyche is to miss a critical aspect of budding neofascism. Many others have noted how fascism operates in the symbolic register and I am suggesting Trump plays a twisted Father role for those fascinated by sexual domination and cruelty. Violence and its fantasy lurk an instant away in every gesture of the Dear Leader, in the mocking smile and sarcastic tone. As Horkheimer observed, what activates the masses is "not to eat but to obey". One sees in the tightly gathered rallies a breathless titillation, an orgiastic release of the repressed that every authoritarian demagogue has triggered in his rapt audience.