Phelim McAleer: Trump’s landslide 2024 victory indicative of a country re-evaluating its priorities
I first met Zachary Levi almost 15 years ago at a Friends of Abe meeting, a clandestine gathering of Hollywood conservatives concealing their beliefs in an industry that would end their career if they didn’t follow the leftist dogmas of the day.
Zach’s warm smile and vibrant energy made him one of the first people I connected with. He gave me a lift home that day. He was an actor in an NBC TV series ‘Chuck’ then. We have stayed friends as his career has taken off - playing the voice of Flynn Rider in Tangled and the superhero Shazam.
His politics have also developed, from a Trump sceptic conservative to introducing the then candidate Trump at a rally just before the last election.
His shift mirrors a broader national trend, as Trump’s landslide 2024 victory reveals a country reevaluating its priorities.
Zach’s story is one of evolution rooted in personal growth. He is an old fashioned star who excels in all he does and can do a lot. He can act, sing and dance brilliantly.
But in 2016 and 2020, he was firmly anti-Trump. “I was very vocally not about Trump in both the 2016 and the 2020 election,” he told me recently.
Swayed by media portrayals of Trump as divisive, Zach favoured less polarising figures.
His transformation began with distrust in the media and the political duopoly that has ruled America for over a century and a half. Zach saw the narrative of Trump as “Hitler” as manipulation by “the Democratic party and the Legacy Media… brainwashing the entire world”.
This echoed his personal journey, detailed in his autobiography Radical Love, where he overcame a traumatic childhood and mental breakdown, learning to question deeply held beliefs.
By 2024, Zach championed Robert F Kennedy Jr for his focus on health and transparency. When Kennedy’s campaign was blocked by Democrats, Trump’s post-assassination-attempt outreach to Kennedy shifted Zach’s view.
“After the assassination attempt there was a very marked difference in his energy and in his spirit,” he said, seeing Trump as a disruptor aligning with Kennedy, Tulsi Gabbard, and Elon Musk.
(Zach is an accidental neighbour of Musk, having fled the Los Angeles crime and city mismanagement for Texas and a little known town called Bastrup outside Austin. A few years later, Elon Musk decided to make the town his company headquarters.)
Trump’s policies – strong borders and economic reform - also resonated with Zach’s vision.
This shift cost has Zach.
“I have friends who have chosen to not be my friends anymore,” he shared. And of course there have been horrible attacks online and the quiet boycott from industry decision makers who can make or break careers.
In Hollywood, where liberal orthodoxy stifles dissent, Zach’s public embrace of Trump is nearly unheard of but his journey a microcosm of a national shift.
Trump’s 2024 landslide, particularly his overwhelming support among young men, reflects a rejection of establishment narratives.
Kamala Harris was more likely to win pensioners than young men, signalling a generational divide. Even Trump’s opponents struggle to counter him.
The old “he’s Hitler” playbook, as Zach’s journey shows, often backfires, pushing sceptics toward Trump when lies unravel. Prosecuting and persecuting their enemies did not work with Trump and is unlikely to work with his successors.
Others, like California governor Gavin Newsom, adopt an “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach, swinging right to meet Trump’s base halfway, eyeing the 2028 presidential election.
Whether voters will buy Newsom’s pivot remains uncertain, but it underscores Trump’s dominance.
Zach’s path isn’t just personal; it’s a sign of a country rethinking its future, challenging us to question narratives and seek truth.
And that inevitably brings us all to Trump.
l Phelim McAleer is Tyrone born producer/journalist based in Los Angeles. He has just recently released a filmed verbatim play based on a court case examining the Trans Gender issue. It can be found at www.TransOnTrial.com