The aesthetics of Trump 2.0
boobs, babes, and Botox are back — and they've united with nerd sensibilities
A few weeks ago over lunch, I asked a friend in Palm Beach if he’s noticed anything different about the women at Mar-a-Lago compared to the rest of Palm Beach.
He gave me a knowing look, suppressing a smirk. Then, with slow, deliberate enunciation, he leaned forward and said: “Tits and lips.” After a dramatic pause, he added. “Everything’s turned up a notch.”
I laughed. “Aren’t they like that at Bath & Tennis?” referring to the old-money, Mayflower-WASP club across the street from Mar-a-Lago — his club.
“Somewhat,” he said peering over his glasses. “The look there is more subtle.”
“And the men at Mar-a-Lago?” I pressed.
He flicked his hand. “Car dealership owners from the Midwest.”
My friend’s snobbishness aside, there’s something interesting about the aesthetics of Trump 2.0 and Mar-a-Lago. “Looks” are definitely part of the vibe shift of Trump’s second term. Traditional gender roles, unapologetic cleavage, and guys who drive F150s are back. The shift is oddly refreshing.
For a while, I’ve resisted writing about Trump aesthetics because it feels shallow and catty, and I’m not exactly a fashionista. But aesthetics matters — especially in Trump World, which is hyper-visual and image-driven. Trump’s 2.0 aesthetics have downstream effects on diplomacy, soft power, and personnel selection.
For instance, do you really think Pete Hegseth would’ve been considered for Secretary of Defense if he didn’t look like he could play the part in a Netflix Series? Can you see how aesthetics might shape the way foreign leaders attempt to exert influence with this administration? Consider our new ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle.
The aesthetic shift from Biden to Trump 2.0 feels like going from the sustainability co-ops of Oberlin to Greek Row at Ole Miss. Biden combined “slay queen” sensibilities with those of a sustainability club at an elite liberal arts school. Trump 2.0 is pure #BamaRush TikTok — frat house tours, sorority dance videos, and a celebration of middle-class, American pageantry.
The main aesthetic innovation of Trump 2.0 is the way it unifies nerds and the jocks, to use high school terms. Unlike Trump’s first term, when nerds were pushed aside, the dork energy of Elon Musk, JD Vance, and Jeff Bezos has merged seamlessly into MAGA-land. Both are making changes to accommodate the other — Vance wearing Brioni, Trump bending Mar-a-Lago’s dress code for Musk. This alliance is more powerful than people realize. There are many wedge issues between the FOX jocks and the Silicon Valley nerds. But if this coalition holds, it could become an unstoppable force. Democrats, take note.
Another shift: Kids and families are part of the aesthetic now. We’ve all seen the images of Musk carrying “Lil X” on his shoulders, or Vance with one of his three kids in tow. “I want more babies in the world,” Vance awkwardly declared the other day. This pro-natalist ethos is now an overt aesthetic under Trump 2.0.
Trump 2.0 marks a return to middle-class, all-American aesthetics. It’s as though John Mellencamp’s Jack and Diane have finally returned home after years of being in a progressive gulag, humming “YMCA.”
It’s OK to be blonde and have boobs again.
It’s OK to be straight, white, and Republican again.
It’s OK to live in an exurb and drive a truck again.
It’s OK to have big hair again, like Suebelle’s.
Lawn signs that say IN THIS HOUSE WE BELIEVE.. are out. Classic cheerleader and quarterback aesthetics are in. Botox and laser-skin treatments are not only normalized but expected. It’s like Trump 2.0 is under the combined creative direction of Real Housewives and FOX News.
Trump 2.0’s emphasis on healthy, mainstream looks is evident in its personnel choices, even beyond Hegseth. Compare Biden appointees Rachel Levine, Karine Jean-Pierre, and Merrick Garland to their Trump 2.0 counterparts: RFK, Karoline Leavitt, and Pam Bondi. The contrast is striking.
Gays reflect the aesthetic shift, too. Compare Biden’s former DEO appointee Sam Brinton to Trump’s pick to head Treasury, Scott Bessent. Brinton is non-binary, cosplays as a dog, and was arrested for stealing luggage in airports. Bessent is married to a man, has kids, and look like the distinguished Wall Street financier he is.
Some might argue that Trump 2.0 aesthetics are recentering power around straight white men. This is true to a degree, but it’s more nuanced than that. Trumpian aesthetics are not white supremacist, but they do embrace a sensibility of “multiracial whiteness,” as contradictory as that may sound. Trump 2.0 aesthetics elevate white culture, but that’s also the majority culture of America. A sense of white- and hetero-normativity may be stronger under Trump than Biden, but it doesn’t seem exclusionary — not yet, at least.
I’m not one to analyze fashion like a sport, but I couldn’t help noticing the women on Inauguration Day. Melania, as gorgeous as ever, looked like she was hiding beneath her hat. While she channeled Charlin Chaplin, Ivanka had the look of a high-fashion French Resistance fighter with her beret. I kept looking for a fake machine gun by her side! Their looks didn’t seem in sync.
Usha, on the other hand, nailed it. In her Oscar de la Renta, she struck just the right balance of confidence and effortless glamour. A mom of three, Yale Law grad, and at ease in the spotlight, Usha embodies the best of Trump 2.0 aesthetic. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her on the cover of Vogue.
The aesthetic shift comes with negatives, of course. It’s refreshing to see 2010s-era DEI sensibilities in retreat, but the pendulum may swing too far the other way. Already, “diversity” has become a lazy scapegoat among the right — stub your toe, blame DEI! One could argue that Trumpian personnel selection is just DEI for good-looking white people who flatter his ego and pledge unwavering loyalty. Is that any less shallow than Biden’s tokenism?
The Mar-a-Lago aesthetic can be suffocating, too. Women are expected to be gorgeous, men to be rich. If Trump’s Friday Night Lights vibe turns rigid and exclusionary, it could suffocate those of us who don’t fit the mold. If the nerd-jock alliance fractures or the administration descends into low-IQ populist chaos, Trump 2.0 could devolve into self-parody — just as it did in the first term.
Although I didn’t vote for Trump in 2024 and view some of his early policy moves as reckless, I’m enjoying the aesthetic vibe shift for now. Unlike my Palm Beach friend, I have a soft spot for car dealership owners from the Midwest and their ex-cheerleader wives. Sure, Mar-a-Lago may be full of arrivistes, but at least it’s open to Jews, gays, and other minorities — unlike Bath & Tennis. Irony, huh?
Aesthetic shifts aren’t just about fashion. They signal deeper realignments in culture, politics, and even geopolitics. Trump 2.0 aesthetics reveal a return to a certain kind of confidence: traditional gender roles, unapologetic glamor, and a rejection of the moralizing, progressive aesthetic that dominated much of the last two decades. In place of rainbow flags, masks, and schoolmarms, Trump 2.0 is elevating physical attractiveness, families with kids, and a nerd-jock coalition.
The question is: Is this lasting realignment or just a passing phase?
I don’t know, but it’s worth watching.
So, I absolutely love everything about this article.
I think what I love about this aesthetic is that it is so unapologetic.
Like, yeah, they want to be hot and don’t care if someone thinks it’s “too much” or déclassé.
I’m probably biased because I grew up on a farm in Iowa but the thing I like about the “Midwest car dealership owner” class is that well many of them are quite wealthy….they aren’t too good to come over for chili and watch the Husker game.
PS- The book Madness Under the Royal Palms is a fascinating look into Palm Beach 🏝️
Chess, most interestingly, is fascinating in its capacity to enable the study of cross-cultural hierarchies in a nascently multicultural setup. What I mean by this is, if we compare any two players from different, entirely bifurcated tournament rings and figure out what the win probability is for one against the other, their ELO scores basically enable us to know the win probabilities of just about everyone on the servers. Well, maybe you need a few more measurements to get the standard deviation or skill expression, but in theory, even a single measurement should provide you a significant amount of information.
I mention this because, as you can see, and it's exemplified quite well in Trump World, there are different aesthetic sensibilities pursued by Americans in different social milieus. The RFK musculature but questionable skin health and gravely voice would be completely out of place in academia and the more refined presentation on old-school Wall Street types is antithetical to the visible plastic surgery or tan product usage in the Fox News sphere. What the Trump parade does, however, capture is that all these people do succeed in, or almost succeed in, apotheosizing the aesthetics of their respective constituencies, all of which coincidentally have a place in the Trump coalition.