> Perhaps the 100% media saturation helped to legitimize his views? I'd say what helped him most were his speeches, no doubt. The media saturation was a side b

> Perhaps the 100% media saturation helped to legitimize his views? I'd say what helped him most were his speeches, no doubt. The media saturation was a side benefit. He had an absolutely captivating way of giving a speech. > By captivating, do you include the calls to violence and dog-whistling? I would like to clarify, here, that captivating and able-to-be-rationalized are not the same thing. Hitler's speeches were captivating beyond all doubt, but were not possible to rationalize. Trump's speeches were captivating, and occasionally easy to rationalize. Did you listen to any? There were very few, if any, calls to violence - dog whistling wasn't an overt thing from the speeches I observed, either. The vast majority of his speeches he focused upon two sole things - former prosperity, and regaining that prosperity. He directly mirrored Reagan's campaign, down to the slogan - "Make America Great Again." A typical outline of a Trump speech goes: [INTRODUCTION - He starts giving "I love you all!" kiss-ups.] [PLEA FOR THOUGHT - He gives the story of someone who serves as a conduit to gain sympathy for one of his causes, usually someone hurt by an undocumented immigrant, or a military member.] [EXCLAMATION OF SUPERIORITY - He combats the Republican candidate's talking point of the week, along with the leading Democratic candidate, whilst telling how he has a plan to do better. He does this very well, even if the argument itself doesn't hold up.] [EXCLAMATION OF PATRIOTISM - He begins going on about how he loves his country, and how it has potential to be wonderful again. Ironically, this was the most disillusioning part of his speeches for me.] [EXIT, I LOVE YOU ALL - He again tells the audience how wonderful they are, and how he's happy they support him. He then leaves in an occasionally bravado way.] * * * It's rather simple, but he perfected the formula very quickly.