Todd Blodgett Opinion: Donald Trump is the Dean Martin of Presidents

Recently, talk show host Bill Maher, a Democrat, said, “Donald Trump is cool”, and named rappers and athletes who agree.  The ‘cool’ Trump is reminiscent of the late actor/singer Dean Martin who, in 1969, was the world’s highest-paid entertainer.  Well-known for his long-running, enormously popular weekly TV program, movies, Las Vegas appearances, recordings, the ‘Rat Pack’, Martin & Lewis comedy films and Westerns with John Wayne, and his quick, rapier wit and quirky humor, ‘Dino’ wasn’t universally popular.  A populist, conservative mega-multimillionaire and renowned ladies man who spoke his mind, he offended some; his nonchalance bordered on cockiness.  Does that sound familiar?   He could be profane, even on TV – but spoke profanities in Italian!

As Mark Wright wrote in National Review (2/8/2025), “Love him or hate him, Trump’s funny – it’s always been an important part of his political appeal.  But he’s like an insult comic, who can go too far, offend and outrage.”  Martin, like Trump, was risque’, sarcastic and at times, snarky.  In 1974, a cute young gal who sang with the ‘Gold Diggers’ (the back-up singers on his TV program) mistakenly sang the wrong lyrics.  Dino said, “Let’s try again, honey!  We all make mistakes: Remember Hitler?”  The grinning performer would lapse into corny, dance-like moves, wave his arms, roll his eyes and commend himself and his talent.  Upon ending songs he’d say, “Wasn’t that BEAUTIFUL?   You just heard the world’s BEST!  Unbelievable! People should pay a tax just to LISTEN!”  Trump can act that way.   Fans loved Martin, but his detractors considered him ignorant and crude, with backward, outdated, sexist views.  

In 1973, the National Organization for Women gave him its ‘Keep-Her-in-Her-Place award’ due to his comments about females.  Who can’t imagine Donald Trump receiving the award from angry feminists?  Like Trump, Dino disliked rehearsing, preferring golf over preparing for appearances, including his Celebrity Roasts.  Each was married three times with lots of children, including a namesake.  Their second divorces enriched their ex-wives by $50 Million in 2025 money.  By age 45 they were iconic, household names with huge real estate holdings (luxury hotels, casinos, apartments, office buildings) and delegated running their businesses to their sons and professionals.  Martin and his boys were gun fans (much like Trump and his sons) and he frequently carried one, as President Trump allegedly does.  

In 1982, a California state trooper – a registered Democrat – out to make a name for himself arrested Dino for illegally possessing a loaded handgun.  Lawyers and countless others said he was arrested due to being an internationally-known celebrity.  Clearly, President Trump identifies with selective targeting by legal authorities.  Then there’s their shared, natural spontaneity.  With Dino, what you saw was what you got: same with Trump.  While Martin was known for drinking and Trump doesn’t indulge, it was sheer PR imagery – which Trump innately understands.  Dino was among Hollywood’s most disciplined, hardest-working performers.  He arrived early, stayed late and always knew his lines and everyone else’s.  Trump sleeps five hours nightly and exhausts younger staffers who are amazed by his energy and rapid memorization of memos; later, he conveys them in everyday lingo.  Similarly, Dino was a sight-reader of scripts and lyrics who regularly improvised.     

Dino was hard to know and wasn’t close to anyone, which also describes Trump.  Martin’s diet consisted largely of pizza, burgers, Coca-Cola, cigarettes, pasta and well-done steaks, with golf his only exercise.  Trump also has few close friends and, while a nonsmoker, he loves junk food, well-done steaks, Diet Coke and McDonalds – and often hits the links.  Dino expertly understood camera angles, pithy phrases, decibel levels and how to get in quips and facial expressions with precise timing, as does Trump.  When asked about his success, Martin said, “I always play to the common folks.  Okay?”  Sound familiar?  

Despite Dino’s ultra-expensive custom-tailored suits, monogrammed dress shirts, hand-made shoes, platinum Rolex watches, costly-coiffed hairstyle and 14 karat gold cufflinks, many producers, directors and studio executives considered him an uncouth rogue, which  describes how many people see Trump.  But the pros respected Martin’s popularity with the masses, and his ability to entertain audiences – not unlike Trump.  While the mega-multi-millionaire Martin owned more shares of RCA stock than anyone and was no ‘regular Guy’ or ‘average Joe’, he consistently PRESENTED himself as one, as does Trump.  He had his own, personalized brand of luxury golf balls (called ‘Dino’s’), as Trump has, for decades.  

Trump, a rabid football fan, once owned a pro team, the New Jersey Generals of the USFL.  Martin also loved football and in 1970, nearly bought the NFL’s L.A. Rams.  Dino, an ex-pro boxer, befriended Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano; President #47 is a boxing fan and personally knows several M-M-A contenders.  In 2007, at a ‘WrestleMania’ event before 85,000 fans, he ran down and tackled WWE founder Vince McMahon and pummeled him.  In 1967, Martin famously got into and won a fistfight against two men at a Vegas restaurant who insulted his Italian heritage.  Dino, like Trump, was a Guys’ Guy, highly popular with teenagers and young adults, well into the 1980s when he starred in ‘The Cannonball Run’,.  In 1964 – while a grandfather – his hit, ‘Everybody Loves Somebody’ knocked the Beatles’ ‘Hard Day’s Night’ out of #1 on the American Top 40.  

In 2024, Donald Trump won 58 percent of the votes of young men aged 18-30, and recent polls 60% of that demographic approve of him.  He has 14.5 Million Tik-Tok followers.  In  1969, Elvis Presley (‘The King’) dubbed Martin ‘The King of Cool’.  Dino’s mastery of TV wasn’t unlike Trump’s – who, when announcing his candidacy, dramatically descended a gold-plated escalator.  Similarly, ‘The Dean Martin Show’ always began with its host descending an open, gold-plated elevator, or blithely sliding down a gold-plated, 20-foot fire pole.  Onstage, he’d jettison his scripted lines and substitute his own, considerably funnier throwaway lines – as Trump frequently does.  Legendary liberal singer Bob Dylan idolized Dino, and covered Martin’s big hit, ‘Return to Me’, for ‘The Sopranos’ TV series.  

He said that Dean was “the man both Sinatra and Elvis wanted to be.”  Likewise, millions of American men say they truly admire Trump and the name ‘Donald’ has become much more popular since 2016: in 2021, that name’s popularity registered its largest year-over-year increase since 1901.  After some fairly boring recent chief executives, it’s neat to have one whom even some Leftists call “cool” – and who is reminiscent of ‘The King of Cool’.

(TOP IMAGE of Trump via Getty Images; TOP IMAGE of Marin via deanmartin.com)

Todd Blodgett, the acclaimed author of ‘REPUBLICAN CRACKHEAD’, served on the Reagan-Bush White House staff and worked for the Republican National Committee and the FBI. He lives in Clear Lake, Iowa and Tyler, Texas. Mr. Blodgett can be reached at his website.