Republicans Are the Cool Kids Now

In the wake of Donald Trump’s decisive electoral victory and his overwhelming political mandate from voters on Election Day, something profoundly strange is happening in American culture.

For the first time in recent history, Republicans have emerged as the “cool kids” on the American political scene—signaling not only a significant political realignment but also the beginnings of a cultural transformation that could shift the trajectory of American life in favor of conservatives for generations.

Virtually from the moment Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election last month, countless athletes have flooded the airwaves with the signature “Trump dance.” Celebrities and social media influencers, many of whom once went out of their way to avoid signaling affinity with the president-elect, have embraced him.

Throughout the nation, a new wave of Trump-era patriotism has taken hold—an early indicator that the progressive advance of cultural wokeism is at long last coming to a halt.

Among the most notable instances of this trend is the surge of the “Trump dance,” with NFL stars Brock Bowers, Calvin Ridley, Nick Bosa, and Za’Darius Smith all mimicking the signature shimmy that Trump was apt to break out at his rallies. The dance has since even been sanctioned by the NFL itself. Golfers, UFC champions, American soccer player Christian Pulisic, and even members of the English team Barnsley F.C. have all also gotten in on the fun, signaling their support for Trump.

In the aftermath of Election Day, revered actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone also hailed Trump as the “second George Washington” and a “mythical character” at a Mar-a-Lago event. In an even more surprising development, actress Rachel Zegler then publicly apologized for criticizing Trump and his supporters—an unprecedented move for the anti-Trump celebrity class.

Throughout the course of Trump’s 2024 campaign, high-profile names like Joe Rogan, Dana White, Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock, and Dr. Phil McGraw also threw their support behind Trump, with some even flanking him at rallies and other political events. Moreover, Trump’s innovative strategy of appearances on podcasts like “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von” has been widely credited with helping cement his win, reinforcing his ability to reach new, younger audiences who had not been previously engaged in politics.

In another welcome development, as Newsweek recently reported, Trump’s victory seems to be “making patriotism cool again.” Trump’s gains with racial minorities, in particular, appear to be driving this sentiment, according to the outlet. “More people are on board, and you look silly if you aren’t patriotic about your country,” Black conservative influencer Amir Odom told Newsweek. “The same people touting a Ukraine flag in their bio won’t tout an American flag? Now they look like the crazy ones.”

Of course, none of these developments occurred in a vacuum. Through his victory, Trump has shattered every preexisting partisan political paradigm, upended decades’ worth of demographic trends favoring the Democrat Party and breathed new life into a political system desperate for healthy change.

In addition to winning a 312 electoral vote landslide and the popular vote, according to election exit polls, Trump made historic inroads with racial minorities, improved his standing with young, black, and Hispanic voters by notable margins, and won a stunning 64 percent of the American Indian vote. Trump also won Catholics by a 15 percent margin, evangelicals by a 25 percent margin, and gained significantly among Jewish voters.

Meanwhile, Trump became the first Republican to win Miami-Dade County in Florida and Bucks County in Pennsylvania since George H.W. Bush in 1988. He flipped African American-heavy counties in states like Georgia. He improved his percentage of the vote in virtually every state compared to 2020. Consequently, Kamala Harris became the first candidate since Herbert Hoover in 1932, who failed to flip a single county.

Notably, this seismic shift towards Trump comes despite years of left-wing efforts to ostracize his supporters, cast his movement as an existential threat to American democracy, and impeach, indict, convict, and even almost assassinate him. But in the end, the progressive movement’s charade of scare tactics did not scare voters away from Trump—it sent them sprinting to his side.

In other words, the silent Trump voter is no longer silent.

Ultimately, the left’s exhaustive efforts to exile Trump into political oblivion have backfired in spectacular fashion—not only delivering Trump a historic second term and allowing him to upend the American electoral system but also sending the Democrat Party to the brink of political irrelevance.

Throughout the course of the 2024 presidential campaign, one of Joe Biden’s signature lines was, “This is not your father’s Republican Party.” In the end, Biden was right—but not for the reasons he thought. To his party’s chagrin, MAGA is cool now—and Democrats can’t do a thing about it.

Aaron Flanigan is the pen name of a writer in Washington, D.C.