“This is how the world ends.
Not with a bang, but with a whimper” – TS Eliot, The Hollow Men
There are panic in the MAGA media. In July, Republicans enjoyed a near-win presidential election. But now victory is slipping away from their deity. While the base only fears that the socialists could “steal” the election again. Fox commentators and their media colleagues are begging Trump to stop talking about 2020 and to stop the empty insult campaign against Harris. They believe that a Trump who addresses the issues will plug the holes in a sinking ship
This wishful thinking has two flaws. First, Trump is just as likely to make a U-turn as a pirouette. Second, they overlook the man’s greatest weakness, his inability to make changes. His slapstick is old. His demeanor is hackneyed. And the base, while still loyal to him, wonders if there is anything beyond the old slapstick. Even his insults are recycled.
Megyn Kelly, long-time enemy of Trump summed it up well on her eponymous show. Her guest was Nate Silver. Their conversation centered on age and politics. Silver suggested that the media should spotlight both Trump’s and Biden’s age-battered performances. This would have surprised independent thinkers who witnessed a months-long campaign by the mainstream media highlighting Biden’s age at every opportunity. But Kelly doesn’t attract people who think for themselves, so Silver was able to play it safe with his misrepresentation.
Nate got the ball rolling by suggesting that the media ask why Biden doesn’t resign now instead of finishing the last five months of his term. Then he turned to the old man who is still in the race and said:
“I would encourage more reporting on whether Trump is in some kind of decline. I think that’s a fair question to ask any 78-year-old.”
In response, Kelly went all-in:
“That’s a fair question. Yes, that’s absolutely a fair question. And look, we… one of the reasons Trump gets upset with me is because I’ve been asking that question for some time. And when he seems to have high-level moments, I ask him about it. He doesn’t like that, and I can’t blame him, but that’s my job.
Did Kelly challenge him? I don’t know. But I take her word for it. Not because she’s honest. But because it doesn’t matter. She’s doing it now. And we can give her credit for acting better late than never.
Megyn also referred to Trump’s last two talkathons. Her analysis was not new ground. But at least she was honest – for once.
“I have to say that he seemed pretty confused to me in this discussion with Elon. I mean, he talks too long – at his rallies and in these talks and at his press conference recently – to the point where you kind of get bored, lose the thread, lose interest, which is not what you’re used to from Trump.”
What one is “used to” from Trump depends on one’s susceptibility to cultism and tolerance for hollow bigotry. The majority of Americans lost interest in this boring bastard even before the 2016 election – when even a new, politically unconventional Trump could not win a majority of the vote. A fact underscored by his even greater defeat by the same yardstick in 2020 – when not even a thumb on the Electoral College scales could save him.
Kelly further emphasized that even people who went along with all that nonsense eight years ago are now changing channels.
“It was hard to lose interest in Trump in 2016, and I think that’s probably an age-related change. So I think that’s one of the challenges for the people around him who, I’m sure, are desperately trying to get him to stick to his message.”
People who think Trump won’t stay true to his message are wrong. The problem isn’t Trump’s unwillingness to stick to their preferred narrative. The problem is that Trump has stuck to HIS message since he rose to infamy.
He has hated America, Americans and foreigners since he started calling Mexicans drug dealers, human traffickers and rapists, characterising the US as a country rife with “bloodbaths” and heaping personal attacks on his rivals.
MAGA had no problem with the message. It’s Trump’s increasingly incoherent and repetitive speech – and his inexplicable obsession with incomprehensible references to things like Hannibal Lecter – that has led to poorly attended rallies and fans heading for the exits before the break. Comparative videos of the 2015 Trump with the 2024 model show a man in steep decline. And let’s note that the “before” Trump was more AMC Gremlin than Rolls-Royce.
However, this is not the only contradiction that is unfavorable for the old man.
Now that Biden has passed the baton, the excitement belongs to the Democrats. Harris is a red-hot rock star who sells out stadiums. Trump is Ted Nugent. Walz is an opening act that fans show up to early. Vance is an opportunity to go to the bathroom. Harris/Walz march to the beat of Beyoncé’s “Freedom.” Trump stole Celine Dion’s theme song about a sinking boat.
It is ironic that Trump’s MAGA ship is sinking because it has encountered an iceberg called Trump.
