“I’m voting for the outlaw,” my boss, Dan Bongino, wrote on X shortly after former President Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in a kangaroo New York court. Within a few days, Bongino began selling various "outlaw" shirts, including one with an upside-down flag to signify the downfall of our constitutional republic. As of Tuesday, he sold over $350,000 in tees.
Democrats had hoped their lawfare against the former president would deter the American people. Instead, they awakened one of the most persistent and powerful American mythos: the Western outlaw.
In a $50 million ad released Monday, President Joe Biden leaned into labeling Trump a criminal, depicting the frowning former president in ominous black-and-white imagery. Meanwhile, Biden portrayed himself as the honorable, good ol’ boy candidate in bright colors surrounded by smiling faces.
The problem, thanks in part to reinforcement from Bongino, is that people now associate Trump with the rugged bandit heroes of America’s beloved Western genre. Thousands of novels, songs, movies, and TV shows take place on the untamed outskirts of civilization. Even American media that doesn’t take place in the Wild West often uses the “outlaw” trope (think Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean or Han Solo in Star Wars).
The heroes of this genre aren’t the stereotypical good guys. They’re rogue protagonists who defend the good but often operate in a moral grey area. As The Federalist’s John Daniel Davidson explains, “the Western is at heart about the tension between civilization and barbarism” and “its heroes are often savage anti-heroes.”
In this way, Trump thoroughly embodies the outlaw. No one would consider Trump a “moral” character. He isn’t Gandalf the Grey or Superman; he’s a playboy billionaire from New York.
The Trump appeal was arguably best exemplified by comedian Dave Chappelle, who described Trump as an “honest liar” when recounting the 2016 debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton. “I’ve never seen a white male billionaire screaming at the top of his lungs, ‘This whole system is rigged,’” recalled Chappelle. “He [Trump] said, ‘I know the system is rigged because I use it… And then he pulled out an Illuminati membership card and chopped a line of cocaine,” the comedian joked.
In other words, Trump knows from first-hand experience that our broken system is hurting regular, working people, and—imperfect as he is—he’s decided to fight on their behalf. Indeed, to the ire of the uniparty, Trump has battled for fair trade, American energy independence, secure borders, and an end to irrelevant foreign conflicts.
It is his willingness to get down in the mud and call Hillary Clinton “crooked Hillary” and Elizebeth Warren “Pocahontas” that endears him to the people. While in office, he bucked convention by cutting foreign aid to globalist entities like the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and various climate initiatives. And he wholesale rejects the performative decorum of the political elites because he correctly views the system itself as a farce unjustly rigged against regular Americans. Biden’s lawfare against Trump only fuels Trump’s “Lone Ranger” characterization.
If Trump is the outlaw, then Biden is the corrupt sheriff. In his $50 million ad, Biden portrays himself as the bright, trustworthy, and civilized alternative to the outlaw. The only issue is that Biden isn’t trustworthy; he’s slimy. He’s the “big guy” embroiled in an influence-peddling scheme with America’s foreign adversaries, and he’s rigging the 2024 election by politically persecuting his opponent.
In many Westerns, the sheriff appears upstanding but is actually crooked, willing to accept bribes and create alliances with criminals. The corrupt sheriff archetype is a symbol of power, greed, and failed institutions—the very thing quintessential American heroes fight.
Lest I remind you, Americans are adventurers. Our ancestors were risk-takers who were willing to sacrifice their old-world comforts for the chance at something either wonderful or disastrous in the new world. We’re cowboys, conquistadors, pilgrims, and pioneers. The very inception of America—our founding—was a rebellion against the status quo in pursuit of freedom.
The spirits of our forebears were restless. They were always ready to bravely challenge the existing order in the name of liberty and justice. Our culture has reflected this ethos for over two hundred years.
Indeed, Trump the outlaw and Biden the corrupt sheriff are not fun little analogies I’m imagining alone. They are real archetypes rooted in a uniquely American mythos that informs how the American people as a whole view themselves and the world around them.
Stories are powerful. As University of Chicago Professor of Medieval History Rachel Fulton Brown writes, “Good stories challenge us,” “give us direction and heroes to imitate,” “reveal truths about ourselves that we otherwise cannot see,” and literally “transform the soul.”
Biden may think that by criminalizing his opponent he’s delegitimized him in the eyes of the people. But in reality, Biden’s stepped onto a cultural landmine that’s conjuring up one of the most persistent and evocative American mythologies, and it may cost him the election.
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