Conor Friedersdorf has a typically obtuse story at The Atlantic about treating Trump like a "normal president." He is, of course, not a normal president, never was. The potential he has to make things so much worse for so many people is very real. I think we can safely lay 200,000 unnecessary deaths during Covid at his feet, and he didn't even intend to do that.
One reason that I think Trump was able to return to power - aside from inflation and misogyny - is that people tended to forget - or simply not know - the level of corruption and chaos that attended his previous administration. I would wager that shockingly high number of his voters don't know that he is a convicted felon. An even higher number don't know about the E. Jean Carroll case. I don't think people really remember the policy incoherence or governing chaos that was Trump 1.0.
Oddly, I am now kind of counting on Trump's many pathologies making Trump 2.0 similarly as dysfunctional. The running joke was Trump's "infrastructure week" or his "concept of a plan" for healthcare. This is why somehow winning control of the House is so critical. If he has the trifecta, he will likely try and kill ACA again. If he doesn't, he can't. If he has a two seat House majority, I don't think he'll even whip for it. WTF does he care?
The obvious weak links in Freidersdorf's piece and this line of thinking is twofold.
The first is that Trumpworld sees the inability to foist some of their agenda on the country the first time as a failure of staffing. They won't repeat that mistake. That doesn't mean they will be competent, but they will sure try. Trump promised tariffs the last time, but largely avoided ruinous trade wars. His rhetoric suggests that he will try for a bigger tariff that might trigger that inflationary trade war, but we shall see. The deportation camps are happening, how many they ensnare is another question.
The second is that Freidersdorf suggests that the proper cure for Trump's excess is winning future elections. The fact that this is in contention seems an important point.
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