I saw this and wondered, "Has the universe gone completely insane?" If you can't access Twitter, it's Trump hawking Trump collectible trading cards. Or what about Lara Trump, the ostensible head of the RNC, releasing a "music video" - if we were to define music loosely.
Trump, meanwhile, has a single public event this week - one of his Klan Bakes on Saturday. Hell, Joe Biden - who dropped out of the race because he was too old to campaign effectively - has more campaign events than Trump. His recent interviews are incredibly low energy affairs. His rallies are tired re-hashings of his old stuff.
There are three theories of Trump's campaign.
The first is that he is simply too old and feeble-minded to run for president effectively. This was largely ignored by the media in favor pointing out Biden's age, but for whatever reason, only a few outlets are looking at Trump's seemingly manifest physical and cognitive decline.
The second is that he has legit PTSD from the assassination attempt. This could be making him clinically depressed. He certainly sounds depressed in some of his few interviews. "Going through the motions" is a pretty standard way to operate in the grips of depression.
The third is that he really isn't trying to win. The conspiratorial version of this is that he has a coup all set up and ready to go. I'm very, very skeptical that he has the strategic planning for this, and it wouldn't account for his lethargy. He would be boastful and braggadocios like the 2016 Trump.
If this is true, my feeling is that he might be about to flee the country. He's about to be sentenced for his NY felonies; he's slipping in the polls; if he loses many of the other charges will go to trial; if he loses the Supreme Court will likely wash their hands of him; he keeps talking about Hannibal Lecter (which appears to be about asylum); he's been lauding Maduro in Venezuela - which has no extradition treaty with the US; he's raising a bunch of sketchy money.
The most deeply hilarious result would be if Trump gets sentenced to prison for his NY crimes - which are the least of his crimes, but still crimes - he craters during the debate and the polls move against him, and so right before reporting to prison or after filing his appeal, Trump simply flies off to Venezuela with all the RNC's cash.
It's too poetic to actually happen, too writerly. The grifter that slowly took over the GOP becomes the instrument of its demise feels like a morality play rather than living history. Much more likely is that he's in real decline and the PTSD from the shooting has pushed him into a spiral.
Still, I'm rooting for him fleeing the country. I think that would be hilarious.
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