The very arguments that are leading media elites to mock and dismiss Donald Trump could actually be empowering his rise in the polls.
Here’s what Donald Trump supporters believe, according to their emails to me
John W. Adkisson/Getty Images
Andrew Prokop is a senior politics correspondent at Vox, covering the White House, elections, and political scandals and investigations. He’s worked at Vox since the site’s launch in 2014, and before that, he worked as a research assistant at the New Yorker’s Washington, DC, bureau.
As I've started writing more about Trump in recent weeks, I've begun getting much more email from his fans. The messages reflect a certain symbiotic relationship between Trump and the establishment he professes to loathe: As the media piles on and as corporations cut their ties, Trump's utter unwillingness to concede an inch endears him further to his supporters, sending his numbers higher.
The thoughts and feelings expressed in these messages suggest that Trump is tapping into something real — real enough to send his poll numbers up and real enough for people to take time out of their day to send strongly-worded messages to a reporter. Many of these emails I've gotten are derogatory toward unauthorized immigrants, and some are blatantly racist. Others praise Trump as a principled outsider who has the ability to get things done.
So here are a representative sample of the Trump-related emails I've gotten over the past 48 hours, as a reminder that Trumpmentum is real and is, in some ways, being fed by the negative coverage Trump has gotten. For people who hold Trump's opinions, and who have felt powerless against a media establishment that often dismisses their views, watching Trump fight on their behalf has been an inspiring experience — and they are willing to speak up and defend him in turn.
While there's probably not enough here to win him an election, don't dismiss the sentiment in these emails or the arguments coming from Trump as fake. He is tapping into something that really exists, even if many in the media wish it didn't.
