(NYTIMES) - Why is former US president Donald Trump so powerful? How did he come to dominate one of the two major parties and get himself elected president? Is it his hair? His waistline? No, it's his narratives. Mr Trump tells powerful stories that ring true to tens of millions of Americans. The main one is that America is being ruined by corrupt coastal elites.

According to this narrative, there is an interlocking network of highly educated Americans who make up what the Trumpians have come to call the Regime: Washington power players, liberal media, big foundations, elite universities, woke corporations. These people are corrupt, condescending and immoral and are looking out only for themselves. They are out to get Mr Trump because Mr Trump is the person who stands up to them. They are not only out to get Mr Trump; they are out to get you.