The View from Outside the MAGA Bubble

In recent days, I have been reaching for a concise way of describing the difference between Donald Trump as a candidate or power broker within the Republican primary system and Donald Trump as a candidate or power broker within the United States at large. Yesterday, while I was looking at computers for a side project in which I am involved, it came to me: Donald Trump is “optimized” for the GOP primaries, but he is fatally underpowered when operating anywhere else. To run the same program on him — once, twice, three times, or more — will invariably be to yield the same disappointing results.

Architecturally, Trump’s problems are ruinous, intractable, and impossible to fix with a patch. Until it changes its core hardware, the Republican Party will stay where it has been for years: unable to prevent Trump from remaining as its deranged standard-bearer, and unable to win key elections while Trump occupies that role. In effect, there are now two spheres within our politics. In one of them, Trump thrives; in the other, he flails. Within a highly politicized environment — let’s call it “the bubble” — Trump’s shtick is catnip to both his friends and his foes, because, unlike anyone else within the firmament, he provides a central pole around which everyone else is able to triangulate. Thus does Trump serve as an incentive machine for people in the politics business: He drives his fans wild and his enemies wilder, and, in so doing, he creates opportunities for entrepreneurship that simply do not attach to more sober or earnest candidates. Over the last decade, the majority of America’s conservative institutions have realized that there’s a great deal of money to be made in demanding fealty to Trump, and the majority of non-conservative outlets have seen the potential inherent in taking exactly the opposite course. Ostensibly, these two groups have nothing in common. In reality, though, both of them rely upon the preservation and promotion of the same man. Sure, it’s bad for the country. But it’s damn good for CBS.

About the Author

Charles C. W. Cooke

Charles C. W. Cooke is a senior editor at National Review and the host of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast.

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In recent days, I have been reaching for a concise way of describing the difference between Donald Trump as a candidate or power broker within the Republican primary system and Donald Trump as a candidate or power broker within the United States at large. Yesterday, while I was looking at computers for a side project in which I am involved, it came to me: Donald Trump is “optimized” for the GOP primaries, but he is fatally underpowered when operating anywhere else. To run the same program on him — once, twice, three times, or more — will invariably be to yield the same disappointing results.

Architecturally, Trump’s problems are ruinous, intractable, and impossible to fix with a patch. Until it changes its core hardware, the Republican Party will stay where it has been for years: unable to prevent Trump from remaining as its deranged standard-bearer, and unable to win key elections while Trump occupies that role. In effect, there are now two spheres within our politics. In one of them, Trump thrives; in the other, he flails. Within a highly politicized environment — let’s call it “the bubble” — Trump’s shtick is catnip to both his friends and his foes, because, unlike anyone else within the firmament, he provides a central pole around which everyone else is able to triangulate. Thus does Trump serve as an incentive machine for people in the politics business: He drives his fans wild and his enemies wilder, and, in so doing, he creates opportunities for entrepreneurship that simply do not attach to more sober or earnest candidates. Over the last decade, the majority of America’s conservative institutions have realized that there’s a great deal of money to be made in demanding fealty to Trump, and the majority of non-conservative outlets have seen the potential inherent in taking exactly the opposite course. Ostensibly, these two groups have nothing in common. In reality, though, both of them rely upon the preservation and promotion of the same man. Sure, it’s bad for the country. But it’s damn good for CBS.