Why Trump? (Or at least my opinion as to why Trump?)

the epoch	Colonial America	New Republic	Gilded Age	Post-war America	Today
the ideal	constitutional monarchy	aristocracy	individualism	majority	plurality
expression of the ideal	empire	property	free enterprise	government	special interest
self-identification	‘God, king, and country’	‘citizen’	‘rugged individualist’	‘the empowered citizen’	‘the dual citizen’**
promoter of the ideal	Locke	Madison	Jackson	TR*	Reagan
manifestation of the ideal	George III	Washington	Lincoln	FDR	Trump
the positive outcome	prosperity	independence	industrial revolution	world power	?
the negative consequence	mercantilism (economic oppression)	social ranking (slavery)	exploitation (poverty)	entitlements (dependence & debt)	theocracy (cultural oppression)

* While, because of his personal persona, it is common to associate Teddy Roosevelt with ‘rugged individualism’ in actuality his political contribution to America was progressive in nature, and often anti-individual in action. I.e. the promotion of majority opinion as expressed through government action E.g. conservation; anti-monopoly; organized labor.

** The hyphenated American: Christian-American; Muslim-American; environmentalists; industrialists; immigrants; real-Americans, gun nuts; anti-gun nuts; pro-life; pro-choice; feminists; soccer-moms; Black Lives Matter; White supremacists; [Etc.]