This resonates with me because I perceived from the beginning of his candidacy that he seemed incorrigibly corrupt and pathologically dishonest, and obviously willing to say anything he thought would appeal to his listeners or advance his agenda whether it had any basis in fact or not.One presentation of the rise of Donald Trump focuses on the anti-establishment backlash that the Republican Party experienced during the presidency of Barack Obama. The tea party was one manifestation, and Trump’s appearance as a presidential candidate in 2015 did attempt to leverage that frustration with establishment Washington.
More important, though, was the overlap between that anti-establishment sentiment and the embrace of outright false claims about political subjects. Part of the frustration with Republican leaders was that their actions and rhetoric were increasingly divergent from the rhetoric on Fox News and on fringier upstarts like Breitbart. Trump was both unattached to D.C. respectability and immersed in the fringe-right vernacular, and that’s what he presented to Republican primary voters.
This was the origin of the idea that Trump speaks frankly while others don’t. It wasn’t that he was honest; far from it. It was that he said the things that his supporters were hearing from (dishonest) actors elsewhere because he didn’t care about being seen as dishonest. His supporters saw this as unusual honesty, when it was in fact the opposite.
Trump’s dishonesty has been relentless ever since, often infecting his allies and his party. But he retains a perception of honesty and frankness among his supporters because they dislike and distrust those pointing out his dishonesty — his opponents, the media, etc. Trump is granted the benefit of the doubt, despite being perhaps uniquely undeserving of it.
Another important reason for Trump's success is that he makes no attempt to hide his own bigotry and prejudices, and too many people with latent, similar bigotries perceived that as both honesty on his part, and permission to free themselves from any latent guilt for harboring and acting on their own hatreds and prejudices.
