Park MacDougald swallows the pundits’ doubt and declares Trump all but finished after this disastrous month:
The month and a half since the midterms has been one long, rolling disaster for Trump. Against the wishes of his advisors, he announced his reelection bid barely a week after the electoral bloodbath, earning the endorsement of only one senator. Rupert Murdoch abandoned him. His company was found guilty of criminal tax evasion in Manhattan. He hosted Kanye West and the white nationalist Nick Fuentes in Mar a Lago; following a massive backlash, his camp was forced to claim that he had been tricked by the rapper’s entourage, only for Kanye to go on Alex Jones a few days later and sing the praises of Hitler. After the release of the “Twitter Files” — internal documents relating to the company’s decision to ban Trump after the Capitol Riot — Trump seemingly called for the suspension of the Constitution. By the time he announced the NFTs, it was hard not to wonder if even he had given up hope.
I’m way more hesitant to call it over for Trump. I even think the NFT sale wasn’t entirely worthless — it certainly brought in some funds.
Trump is funnier, and attracts more of the spotlight, than any of his rivals. If he starts putting in the work by giving speeches and figuring out which lines get a response, he’ll identify the issues that matter, and increasingly ditch the grievances about 2020 — that don’t.