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Trump loves to use the term Fake News a lot. You know why?, because he's used it all his life to promote himself. It exists because he creates it.
Trump is a master of denial. Any fault he has he accuses others of having he can deliver with total confidence and lacking any hint of organic shame, which for the average liar is a tell, thus deepening the illusion he is sincere. And he can do so because in addition to being a delusional narcissist he is also a sadistic psychopath. My theory then, as to why Trump has had his moment of success, is that the more negative the nature of one's low self esteem, the greater the need for narcissistic self flattery so they admire Trump out of envy. By standing behind Trump they can vicariously experience what it would be like to master the art of the lie of that feeling of worthlessness. Of course this will never build real self esteem because it is only someone's permission from him to them telling them it's OK to be a pig. But that is not OK as anybody with a modicum of real self respect knows instinctively.
Fortunately, while the need generated by low self esteem for mastery of denial, people discover with time that they still feel like shit no matter how much Trump can flatter them. For most people ego takes a back seat to having enough food to stay alive. Bellies are hard to reason with.