I'm Not Sure How To Argue Against This

Martin Longman makes a case that Trump is actually following the template that made him President.  So who's stupid now?

He concludes with

Those who argued against comprehensive immigration reform in the aftermath of Obama's reelection were arguing that the Republicans could win, despite growing demographic disadvantages, by polarizing the white electorate against the Democratic Party on the basis of race and religion. Trump merely executed that plan. He's still executing it.

People ought to be sick by now both of underestimating Trump and overestimating the character of the American people. No one wants to hear either of those messages, but I'm sick of losing and we'll keep losing if we keep lying to ourselves.

Is Trump a cleverly disguised genius? No. Not at all. He's not even minimally sane. He's very bad at following instructions, sticking to a plan even of his own making, or executing more than two steps ahead. This is dangerous enough in the foreign policy sphere that he should be removed from office for that defect alone.

But he says spontaneous assholish things not only because that's who he is but because that's how he's had success. It's still working for him where it counts. And it's not clear that it will ever stop working for him where it counts. What will stop working for him is everything else.

I'm not sure there is anything flawed in that analysis and that makes me sad.  I do think it is very unlikely that Trump wins re-election, but the "Assholification" of our politics is likely to remain salient - especially among Republican voters - unless we crush him and the entire GOP like a bug.