I believe that, almost a decade after his first campaign, Trump still has the kind of shield that only celebrities can provide. It's too easy to forget that before Trump was the politician, Trump was the businessman, the entertainer, and the mainstay of the tabloids. After all, even though he is now a former president and currently the front-runner to retake the White House, it wasn't that long ago that Mr. Trump was seen as an American success story, a businessman with the track record and charisma to take off. to become a celebrity and appear in films like 'Home Alone 2', the popular television series “The Apprentice” and Macy's ads along with people like Taylor Swift and Martha Stewart.
The lure of success is powerful. In our own lives, success can take many forms: financial gain, professional accolades, a happy family. But for many it is especially younger Americans today, fame and influence are an ambition or an indicator of success. There's a reason brands seek out celebrity spokespeople to endorse products; we may unconsciously assume that because someone is famous, they must be worth listening to.
Ms. Winfrey, Ms. Swift, Ms. Stewart and, yes, even Mr. Trump have long cultivated a kind of aspirational celebrity that offers some advantages that traditional politicians do not enjoy. Considered by many to be wealthy, successful, influential and entertaining, their success in one arena creates a halo effect that makes people assume they must be talented in all arenas.
Many of these celebrities have had their own lawsuits (in some cases literal trials) and triumphs play out in an extremely public way, creating a base of fans who are invested in their success on a personal level. While people develop “parasocial relationships” with major celebrities, believing that they somehow personally know the famous person they see on their screen, the emotional bond between celebrities and their audiences is fundamentally different from that of politician and voter.
In the wake of Trump's first victory in the 2016 Republican primaries and subsequent victory for the White House, there was plenty of discussion about the role his celebrity played in insulating him from the criticism of his rivals. Attempts to portray him as bad at business often failed because they were unsuccessful was so disappointing to his television–cultivated brand as mogul extraordinaire. Worse, attempts to portray him as an aggressive bully failed because they were reinforcing the brand he had already created.