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Will future historians look back on 2022 and declare it the year that Donald Trump’s spell finally started to lose its luster?
Reports of Trump’s political demise have been greatly exaggerated over the last few years.
There were signs of Trump’s political decline in late 2021, but his 2022 got off to a rocky start with a rally in Arizona and failed to recapture his old magic. The view was that Trump “needs new material fast. If his Arizona rally shows anything, it’s that the old routines are no longer landing.”
Throughout the year, Trump’s problems only increased.
In February, he praised Vladimir Putin as a “genius” for using propaganda to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump’s praise of Putin was nothing new, but his assessment of Putin’s clever strategy became laughable when strong Ukrainian resistance made him look weak. .
Trump has also bet on the wrong horse in the domestic political arena. That’s because Republican backlash against Trump’s endorsement of Dr. Oz began to build in early spring.
The trend among Republicans to openly criticize Trump continued into the summer, when the Jan. 6 committee wisely focused on: Republican Party Witnesses testifying about Trump’s actions.
There is little evidence that the hearings have significantly changed attitudes about Trump. He showed that he led Trump.
Then came the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Ironically, the raid seemed to help Trump, at least temporarily, and kill DeSantis’ momentum. was short-lived. It also helped introduce some ugly fans who tend to garner Republican condemnation and target the FBI for violence.
In August, Trump’s biggest blow of the year was foreseen when Sen. Mitch McConnell admitted that concerns about “candidate quality” made it less likely that Republicans would overthrow the Senate.
At this point, Trump-picked Georgia senator candidate Herschel Walker had already admitted to being the father of an illegitimate child. The revelation that he also paid for an abortion, as reported by The Daily Beast, only added to the omen.
McConnell and the Republican ruling class, unlike so much of the presidency (where aides were stopping Trump, delaying his orders, or otherwise dampening his insanity) We agreed on at least some of the major choices.
It was a tragedy for Trump to give him what he wanted.
The midterm elections turned out to be a denial of Trumpism, and the lack of a red wave was a breaking point for many Republicans. The countless Republicans who have been willing to back Trump through Charlottesville, two impeachments, a big lie, and an attempted coup suddenly realized that losing the election was a bridge too far.
Many right-wingers were outraged that he called Ron DeSantis “Ron Desanctimius”.
Rather than being chastised or timed, Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign right away. Aside from the terrifyingly bad timing, it was a low-energy affair: Trump soon began celebrating Thanksgiving week by dining with anti-Semitic Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes. , led to yet another criticism from his fellow Republicans.
With Christmas approaching, Trump announced an “important announcement”: the release of a $99 NFT. Everyone from Steve Bannon to his QAnon criticized the issue. “There’s a country that goes to the bathroom, and Donald Trump sells Pokemon cards. Thank you.” Blaze TV host Chad Prazer I have written.
A January 6th committee voted to approve a criminal referral against Trump on December 19th. And on the final business day of 2022, after years of controversy, Trump’s six years’ worth of tax returns have finally been released.
Either way, 2022 has been a terrible, terrible, not good, very bad year for Donald Trump.
After all, while Trump is clearly the frontrunner, DeSantis has emerged as a legitimate potential challenger for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. And pop culture figures like Kanye West and Elon Musk have replaced Trump in the attention economy.
Sure, Trump could play Harry Houdini again in 2023. Access to Hollywood The tape that emerged in 2016 and the Capitol riot five years later angered Republicans.
But what we’ve seen in the past year or so doesn’t suggest that he possesses the same energy or magic that allowed him to escape responsibility in the past.
After years of failing upwards, Gravity is finally back in 2022. The chicken seems to be back in its roost, and it remains to be seen whether his fellow Republicans can successfully step into the void.
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