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Trump’s 1980s Aesthetic Re-examined in Jonathan Kaufman’s New Book
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A New Lens on the 1980s and Trump
Jonathan Kaufman’s latest work, *When America Roared*, argues that Donald Trump’s public persona and policy style are rooted in the cultural and economic climate of the 1980s. Kaufman describes Trump as “a creature of the 80s” whose taste for “glitz, cheapness, gold brocade” mirrors the decade’s flamboyant corporate ethos. The book links that aesthetic to the era’s deregulation of media and finance, suggesting that the same forces that propelled figures like Jack Welch and Mark Fowler also paved the way for Trump’s rise.
Media Deregulation and the Rise of Right-Wing Outlets
Kaufman highlights Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Mark Fowler—described as an “obscure bureaucrat” under Ronald Reagan—as a pivotal architect of the 1980s media overhaul.
Author’s Perspective on Politics and the “Deep State”
Kaufman contends that the Republican strategy of deregulating media and reshaping the judiciary created a “deep state” that now challenges liberal institutions, from universities to the courts. He notes that “the Democrats could not figure out for 12 years how to beat Reagan,” implying a parallel struggle for today’s Democratic Party. Kaufman also observes that while Trump was mentored by mob lawyer Roy Cohn in the 1970s, his public breakthrough occurred in the “day-glow” 1980s, making his 2016 election “unpredictable” yet rooted in that era’s cultural shift.
Verbatim Quotes
- “All my books have been in a sense biographies, trying to understand through people,” — Jonathan Kaufman, Fowler disapproved of Trump’s methods and character but approved of his results
- “The Democrats could not figure out for 12 years how to beat Reagan,” — Jonathan Kaufman, Fowler disapproved of Trump’s methods and character but approved of his results