’72 Days of Fury’: Trump pinpoints the moment he knew he was going to win the election
The “72 Days of Fury” have come and gone, and with Trump soon to take office, more are likely on the horizon.
In his Person of the Year interview with Time Magazine, Trump declared the moment he knew that he had clinched an election win: after his first assassination attempt. While speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this year, a sniper’s bullet missed Trump’s skull by mere inches, striking him in the ear and causing blood to spatter across his cheek. As Secret Service agents swarmed around Trump, he raised a fist in the air. A photo of Trump was captured at that exact moment, and the image subsequently became a rallying symbol for MAGA voters across the nation.
Trump had a name for the months outpouring of right-wing rage that followed in the months after the assassination attempt: The 72 Days of Fury. “We hit the nerve of the country. The country was angry,” said Trump of the times to follow. “A lot of people changed with that moment.”
For many MAGA voters, the assassination attempt reaffirmed what they already believed about their candidate of choice. Trump spent his campaign railing against what he deemed to be the enemies of the United States: immigrants, trans people, and the “enemy within,” – the so-called “radical left.” By stoking the fires of fear and rage in the hearts of his political base, he was able to then paint himself as their savior. A sort of patron saint of the right wing. MAGA’s cult-like devotion to Trump is well known. Cult expert Stephen Hassan wrote a book detailing how Trump’s claims of “fake news” and “us vs. them” rhetoric warp the reality of the U.S. political landscape, inspiring his supporters to zealot-like fervor.
It is this fervor, this rage, that allows Trump to convince his base to continuously vote against their best interests. Trump spent the majority of his campaign sowing terror and fear surrounding immigration, and has likened immigrants to “animals.” He has managed to radicalize his base into a xenophobic frenzy, and many lend their full approval to his “mass deportation” to forcibly remove tens of millions of migrants from U.S. soil. Was his supporters fail to understand is that – life destroying human cost of such a move aside – Trump’s mass deportation plan will have a catastrophic effect on the very economy that he promised to save.
The average MAGA supporters economic woes won’t stop there. According to a study done by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Trump’s tax plan will raise taxes for 95% of Americans save for the 5% richest. According to economists and corporate executives, Trump’s tariff plan will cause the cost of goods for the average citizen to skyrocket as well. “72 Days of Fury.” The phrase has eerily religious ring to it, not unlike the “Day of Wrath” verse that appears in the biblical Book of Revelation, signifying the end of the world. As Trump’s policies begin to take effect, MAGA will likely soon learn the an apocalypse is nigh, and despite their messiah’s promises, they are unlikely to see economic or cultural salvation.
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