Conservative Dispatch writer Yascha Mounk is probably one of the last critics to admit that President Donald Trump is in trouble.
“Predicting Donald Trump’s political demise has typically been a fool’s errand,” said Mounk. “Some of my smartest friends have declared his definitive fall from grace again and again, only to be proven wrong each and every time. If you watch MSNBC or listen to NPR, you may over the past decade have believed that Trump’s presidential campaign is a hopeless publicity stunt; that the Republican Party is about to turn on him because of the Access Hollywood tape; that he has no chance of winning against Hillary Clinton … or that his loss against Joe Biden has ended his career for good; that he is about to be impeached over the January 6 riot at the Capitol … and so on.”
“Ten years into Trump’s political career, the most avoidable mistake pundits can make is to underestimate his powers of survival and resurrection,” added Mounk. “And yet, I have come to the tentative conclusion that this time may, finally, be different.”
Mounk’s argument is that Trump was saved during his first term by a smattering of successes, including Operation Warp Speed and the Abraham Accords. But even when he failed to deliver, he managed to blame others, such as the “deep state” and the “global pandemic.” Enough voters bought it that they figured it might be worth giving him a second chance in 2024, “even if he just delivered on some tiny fraction of his promises” on his first go around.
“But the fulfillment of promises can’t be deferred forever without voters starting to lose patience,” said Mounk. “As Viktor Orbán learned to his chagrin in Hungary, there comes a time when leaders are measured by their results rather than their rhetoric. And that time has now come for Donald Trump.”
Mounk said Trump “squandered” the opportunity Americans gave him, and the consequences are happening.
“Trump’s second term will leave behind an America that is weakened, cheapened, and fractious; but it seems increasingly unlikely that he will leave behind an America shaped in his own image,” said Mounk.
Of course, it’s still too early to celebrate, said Mouk. Trump has another 32 months in office to do serious damage to democratic institutions and “engage in a great deal of corruption, and perhaps to start more reckless wars.”
“In all likelihood, a President Trump who is starting to sense that the tide is turning against him will turn out to be more, not less, dangerous to the American republic — and the world.
