Introduction

Donald Trump's post-election rallies that began in December 2016 and continued into 2017 were akin to a scene out of Ridley Scott's epic film Gladiator (2000), featuring actor Russell Crowe. Standing in a Roman arena before a cheering crowd tossing rose petals to hail his victory, Crowe's character study General Maximus defied all the odds by bringing martial triumph to his rag-tag team of myrmillo-armed combatants over Caesar's mighty warriors who unsuccessfully threw everything but the kitchen sink (and the occasional tiger) at them. Then the battle-hardened conqueror impertinently disregards the customs of the day by refusing to follow Caesar's decree by a thumbs-down signal to snuff the life out of his remaining opponent by a cut of the sword. The gesture—the ultimate insult to the discredited tyrant clad with his laurel wreath who embodies the corruption of Rome—plants the seeds of rebellion in the masses and wins Maximus the loyalty of skeptical legislators who otherwise questioned his commitment to the ideals of popular sovereignty.

Demagogic and unmatched in the history of presidential politics in the United States, Trump's post-election celebrations represent a new form of the “permanent campaign” in the colosseum of U.S. politics. Dismissing the norms established by his predecessors, the president-elect exchanged the typical transition mechanics of a new administration with a celebratory and self-aggrandizing “thank you” tour targeted to his base of supporters who helped his campaign prevail in key swing states and defeat rival Hillary Clinton narrowly. Victory in the Electoral College was scarcely a sufficient condition to leave the antielitist narrative that drove the 2016 campaign in the rearview mirror, however.