As Alan Kemp peels off his $7,000 Donald Trump replica mask, he proudly announces to The Feed that he's a "conservative, Trump-loving, Republican Australian".
Alan’s Trump obsession kicked off just before the 2016 US presidential election (which Trump won), after his friend recommended he delve into some of Trump's campaign videos.
"Within half an hour [of watching Trump videos] I was his biggest fan ever," the 37-year old says.
It suddenly clicked who I was in the world … He's me. I just loved him, he's honest.
Before this, Alan had seen Trump as "arrogant and brash", but has since become involved with two Trump fan Facebook groups (one has 8,000 members, the other 2,000), holding weekly meetups to discuss Trump news.
Much of Trump’s appeal comes down to relatability: Alan, fed up with Australian politics, sees him as "a breath of fresh air".
"He talks like me or you … he's not a [typical] politician, and that's what we need."
Despite being unable to vote in the US election, Alan is unwavering in his support for Trump, believing the outcome to have huge ramifications for Australia.
"Trump wants the best for America, and that is effectively us — we follow what they do ... America sets the pace. If America jumps in a war, then we usually follow as well."
Alan’s Trump-themed coffee shop is nestled in a quiet Brisbane suburb. As he opens for the day, he shows off his Trump merchandise: Make America Great Again hats, mugs and T-shirts.
"Every week or so, me and my Trump friends, we get together over a coffee and chat about the latest conspiracy theories."
But since buying the cafe six months ago and publicly showing his support for Trump, Alan says he's lost about 85 per cent of his customers.
"We're just going off savings at the moment. I sold my house a year ago — so I'm losing money," he said.
But Alan has no regrets — and says he wants to see more people openly showing support for Trump.
He says he's even convinced some of his friends to support the Republican presidential hopeful.
A controversial figure
Trump is the first president in US history to be convicted of a crime, to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He has and is the subject of unfounded claims of voter fraud.
He also falsely claimed Haitian immigrants were "eating cats and dogs" and has
Trump has also , a move that has been criticised by economists and human rights organisations.
But Alan does not fixate on Trump's policies; instead, favouring him for his personality and bravado.
Alan lost 85 per cent of customers when he turned his shop into a Trump themed cafe. Source: SBS / Jack Tulleners
He said he ordered his mask from the US during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It was right during peak pandemic and they said there's a mask mandate in town — I thought: 'What better mask than the Don himself?'"
The rise of support for Donald Trump in Australia
Donald Trump is the most popular Republican candidate in Australia since 2008, according to a recent Lowy Institute poll.
A Guardian Essential poll (of 1,137 people across Australia) in July found that almost a third (29 per cent) would vote for Trump if they could, while 37 per cent would for Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris.
Donald Trump was favoured mostly by Australian men who support the One Nation party, according to a poll by the Lowy Institute in 2024. Source: SBS
Zooming into Australia, 20 per cent had trust, while 79 per cent did not.
A graph showing confidence around the world in Donald Trump to do the right thing regarding world affairs. Source: SBS
"There is this anxiety that the world is changing … people feel they can no longer understand the directions in which it's going — they no longer feel that they have the position of security they have had previously."
Zim Nwokora, an associate professor in political science at Deakin University, says Trump has reshaped politics as we know it, and for some Australians who have become jaded by politics, this has struck a chord.
"We see frustration with the direction of public policies on issues such as migration, race relations and the performance of the global economy. In all of those respects, there are deep parallels [America has] with Australia," Nwokora said.
Sharpe said the COVID-19 pandemic also played a role in radicalising Australians, when they saw scepticism about the virus and reams of radical American content online.
Trump's confidence factor
Trump's disdain for political norms is also appealing to some Australians, Nwokora said.
"There's a deep rebel in Trump that I think chimes with the modern demand for people who just want to shake up the system."
Alan Kemp says he relates to Donald Trump. Source: SBS / Jack Tulleners
"He never admits to weakness, he never admits to error. I think there are people within the community who see that as terribly authentic and very strong … other politicians might apologise, they might stumble — they might appear to show shame."
"He's a fighter. He's courageous and he's challenging the establishment and I think that's a really large part of his appeal."
Sharpe says for the "outsiders", Trump seems a saviour: someone who can fix their problems by questioning tolerance, acceptance and social pluralism.
"Here's a guy who just comes along and says: 'I'm really not going to respect that at all'. People think this is really liberating," Sharpe said.
"Finally, somebody who's going to allow us to express our anxieties."
'Movie star magnetism'
Trump has a knack for tapping into the more "exciting" elements of politics; his conventions and speeches often feel like festivals, Sharpe said.
"They're like rock concerts with these huge bright banners and balloons and music. There's something almost evangelical about the aspirations that people pour into Mr Trump and some of that aesthetic."
Supporters of Donald Trump are attracted to his "magnetism", Zim Nwokora says. Source: Getty / Anna Moneymaker
"People expect politics to be a kind of entertainment and Trump creates a certain energy that his supporters find attractive," he said.
He's got a movie star magnetism in the sense that you can't stop looking at him.
Despite Trump's abundant critics, he often relies on charm to win audiences over, Nwokora adds.
"The fact that people are still drawn to this man and they're able to overlook a criminal record, [and] , is in one way proof of the incredible magnetism that he has."
Trump’s effect on Australian politics
This rise in popularity in Australia also coincides with a growing discontent with our own political system, Sharpe says.
"There are groups of the population who are looking for an outsider candidate who is supposedly going to be able to fix their problems," he says.
Nwokora says Trump's influence has even seeped into Canberra, with politicians implementing similar media strategies and language.
"We see the power of Trump in some of the language that Australian politicians are using. I think he's infiltrated in that way — I see communication styles and media strategies that are clearly aping Trump."
Sharpe said Trump’s tactics have also influenced more open discussions on policies — Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s views on migration, for instance.
In his May budget reply, Dutton argued that reducing immigration would help to reduce house prices. "By getting the migration policy settings right, the Coalition can free up more houses for Australians," he said.
Donald Trump's political influence can be seen in Australia, with other leaders employing his tactics, according to experts. Source: AAP / Joel Carrett
Sharpe said opposition to the Voice was a prime example of how some of Trump's strategies have been employed in Australia.
He added that .
"All you have to do is create uncertainty, and that uncertainty creates a window for stronger, more extreme perspectives to come in ... and it's one of the strategies that they use to just slowly shift things," Sharpe said.
However, we're unlikely to see a Trump replica here in the near future. For starters, Australia lacks a candidate with the "charisma" of Trump, Nwokora says.
Plus, compulsory voting acts as a guardrail.
"That makes it harder for a Trump-like phenomenon to take off [because] it forces the parties to be more moderate than they would otherwise be," Nwokora says.
Emotion before vision
A huge part of the Trump phenomenon, Sharpe says, is his ability to tap into emotion, often at the cost of a clear policy vision or ideology.
"It's increasingly clear that he's not really running on a robust set of policy platforms — he seems to be increasingly incapable of responding in a traditional manner when he's pressed on policy issues," Sharpe said.
"He's quite a vacuous character in terms of policy," Nwokora adds. "There's a bit of this and a bit of that, and sometimes he changes his mind. And sometimes what he wants is explained in really unclear ways… he tweets policies."
For supporters like Alan, Trump’s alternative approaches to politics symbolise a necessary movement away from societal norms.
Alan says regardless of the election result, he hopes for peace in America.
"I just hope there's no riots. It's better to live through another Democratic administration now [than] violence."
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