Trump Just Had His Worst Week—Ever
He thought he had this
race in the bag.
Jul 29, 2024
IT MUST BE HARD TO TRANSITION from
martyr anointed by God and positioned to win in a blowout to jealous old whiner
grumbling about the misunderstood relevance of Hannibal Lecter.
Life came at Donald Trump fast when
Sleepy Joe Biden took his name off the Democratic ticket and endorsed Kamala
Harris last week.
Within days, the vice president had
captivated the nation, united her party, upended the campaign, raised record
sums, tied up the race in polling, and seen a bounce in her favorability
ratings.
In the same stretch of time Trump had
backed out of a debate, watched JD Vance become a meme, fielded concerns about
what a failure it was to pick Vance, and seen his own approval rating erode
under Harris’s attacks.
Even his main man, Elon Musk, piled
on—suddenly denying he had committed to spending $45 million per month
supporting Trump’s campaign.
Trump had been riding high. He had a
consistent lead over President Joe Biden both nationally and in all the swing
state polling, in some places beyond the margin of error. Following his
catastrophic debate on June 27, Biden refused to step aside, keeping the
national debate focused on questions about his age and fitness. And after Trump
was nearly killed at a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania, the image on every TV
screen and newspaper front page showed him rising bloodied but defiant. He was,
literally, the picture of strength.
Two days later, at the Republican
convention, the faithful gathered in jubilation to celebrate his survival, his
nomination, and his choice of running mate. Trump had escaped with his life,
and the election was his to lose.
From that commanding position Trump
chose Vance to juice the bro vote in the Rust Belt and to firm up connections
to Silicon Valley. Harris had lower approval than Biden, and Democrats had long
worried she would be a drag on the ticket.
Republicans weren’t licking their
chops—they were drooling.
But one historic tweet from Rehoboth,
Delaware changed everything. “I believe it is in the best interest of my party
and the country for me to stand down,” wrote President Biden. Suddenly, a weak vs.
strong campaign became one of future vs. past, young vs. old, positive vs.
negative, possibility vs. fear. Trump’s candidacy is old and stale, and the
third time is not charming. Harris may be the sitting vice president, but her
candidacy is sparkling and new.
Trump lost altitude so quickly he
forgot he was supposed to have been transformed by the attempt on his life.
Suddenly he can no longer fake serenity and humility, and that crap about unity
his supporters attested to after the attempted
assassination.
A noticeably grouchy Trump admitted Saturday that was all BS. “No, I
haven’t changed,” he said. “Maybe I’ve gotten worse. Because I get angry at the
incompetence that I witness every single day.”
Enraged by Harris’s surge, Trump is
flailing about for any attack to use on her. He has accused her of “committing
crimes,” said she doesn’t like Jewish people (despite being married to one),
and called her “sick,” “a bum,” and “evil.”
The political world is buzzing, not
only over Harris’s momentum but the coming announcement of her choice of
running mate. Undecided voters are learning about impressive, capable,
and normal Democrats all over the country—from Gov. Andy
Beshear to Gov. Josh Shapiro to Gov. Tim Walz. They’re also seeing clips of the
inimitable Pete Buttigieg pop up in their feeds, destroying Trump and Vance on
television every few hours.
Meanwhile Vance is now a joke—starring
in viral dolphin and couch content online and performing poorly out on the
stump. The worst of all sins, in Trump’s book, is that he makes bad TV. He
gives every appearance of being miserable.
But more dangerous for the Trump
campaign is that Vance’s extremist comments about abortion, childless women,
and his desire to “overthrow” Democrats “in some way” are likely to
energize even more female vote against Trump.
These are the worst days Trump has had
in his nearly a decade in politics. Getting indicted was nothing. Getting
convicted was merely a speed bump. His 2020 electoral defeat and January 6th
became opportunities to build his loyal base of the deceived and aggrieved. One
could argue that Trump suffered a worse week in early October 2016 when the
leaked Access Hollywood tape revealed he relished grabbing
women “by the p—sy” and many in his party abandoned him in horror just weeks
before the election. But back in 2016, Trump wasn’t trying to stay out of jail.
A loss back then was going to get him a sweet perch on Fox &
Friends to bash a President Hillary Clinton daily, and it might have
even helped him land the Trump Tower Moscow deal he wanted so badly.
Ten days ago Trump thought he couldn’t
lose. Yet new voter registration, donations, polling, and volunteer signups
show Harris has been met with enthusiasm among young, black, Latino and
independent voters.
Trump has been robbed of his mojo.
Infuriated, he gripes nonsensically about wanting a refund for all the money he spent
campaigning against Biden. He isn’t the messiah he thought he was two weeks
ago, he is just the same man-baby he always was. And now he’s running against a
black woman. He might lose to a black woman.
It’s very unfair.