The only thing I can say Trump is truly good at is getting attention for himself.
He is not a good businessman, not a statesman, and certainly not a man of the people. However, he knows how to spin, knows rhetoric, and knows exactly what to say and do to get attention.
He doesn't care if he is right or wrong. He'll just say or do whatever keeps him at the focus of attention. In short, he's a narcissist and as far as narcissists come, he is the best.
How did he get so much blue-collar buy-in? He didn't make his money by working in the fields, sewers, factories, or any other by-the-bootstraps way. Instead, he built an empire on the backs of such people.
He got the buy-in by saying exactly what they wanted to hear. There are a lot of fears in certain industries and he knew EXACTLY how to exploit those fears. Couple that with an internet subset who love to trade in conspiracy theories and you get the insane cluster-fuck that we had.
Granted, yes, there were tons of times when the media took one-liners out of context and painted him out to be even worse than he actually was, and yes, I can cite some specific examples if you need me to. But the fact is, he was already bad because his only goal was to make himself look good.