The Cult of Personality: When Leadership Becomes the Product
Turns out, being a political outsider doesn’t mean you’re above accountability.
There’s a quiet shift happening in the American political landscape—one not always captured in polls or headlines, but revealed in coffee shop conversations, social media confessions, and family dinners that used to end in shouting matches. More and more Americans, including some who proudly voted for Donald Trump in 2016 or even 2020, are saying enough.
And no, it’s not because they suddenly became Democrats. It’s because they expected a President. What they got instead was a brand.
The Decline Behind the Applause
While Trump still commands loyalty from his base, his approval ratings—particularly among moderates, independents, and suburban voters—have seen a slow, steady decline. This isn’t about one scandal, one policy, or even one indictment. It’s cumulative. It's the fatigue of four years of chaos and grievance politics followed by another four (and counting) of campaign rallies that feel more like revenge tours than civic leadership.
Many Americans voted for Trump because they wanted to “shake things up,” to see someone unafraid to call out hypocrisy and bureaucracy. That outsider energy was appealing—until it became corrosive. Until it started to erode the very institutions meant to serve us all. Until the “tell it like it is” attitude turned into attacking war heroes, judges, teachers, scientists, and anyone who dared to disagree.
The presidency, for many, stopped being about serving the nation and started looking more like a personal platform for profit, grievance, and ego.
Beyond Politics, Toward Decency
What’s often missed in the noise is that millions of Americans—left, right, and center—still want many of the same things:
An immigration system that works and offers both security and opportunity.
A government that cleans its own house, eliminates waste, and spends our tax dollars with transparency.
A student loan system that doesn’t financially cripple young Americans for decades.
Laws made by lawmakers, not just executive orders scribbled in Sharpie.
These aren’t partisan dreams. They’re common goals. We disagree, sure, on how to get there—but disagreement isn’t the problem. The problem is we’ve forgotten how to disagree without dehumanizing each other.
There used to be a time when civil discourse was possible. When you could say, “I didn’t vote for him,” without being accused of hating your country. When a President didn’t speak in memes, didn’t insult half the electorate, and didn’t publicly trash every past administration to elevate himself. Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Obama—they didn’t agree on much, but they shared one quality that seems to be missing now: respect for the office, and for all Americans.
The Presidency Isn’t a Show
Many of us are looking for a President who speaks to the country, not about himself. Someone who uses public speeches to uplift, not tear down. Someone who leads not just by executive order, but by working with the very system that was designed—imperfectly, yes—to force cooperation and dialogue.
A President shouldn’t be in the merchandise business. He should be in the people business.
It’s no longer about left vs. right. It’s about maturity vs. spectacle. About substance vs. self-promotion.
That’s why protests are swelling again. Why people are marching not just against policies, but against tone, conduct, and character. Why even some longtime supporters are quietly stepping away, disappointed—not because Trump failed to deliver every promise, but because he failed to embody the bare minimum expectations of the job: integrity, humility, and a commitment to something greater than himself.
America doesn’t need a celebrity. It needs a President.