Trump has one big job tonight: give people with doubts about his fitness for the presidency permission to vote for Donald J. Trump.
Trump's problem has always been that some people are revolted by him as a person, regardless of whether they disagree or agree with him on policy issues. In fact, for many, his personality is so repulsive that they instinctively reject his policies simply because they are HIS policies. Think of Kamala Harris rejecting the vaccine when it was the "Trump vaccine" but embracing it once Trump was gone.
The same could be said of countless Trump suggestions, such as reopening schools. People who might have been open to the idea were hardcore against it because Trump pushed for it. Much of COVID insanity was driven by Trump derangement and the Democrats' taking advantage of it to reshape our society.
Events--the presidential debate, the civil war in the Democrat Party, the exposure of the myriad hoaxes, the dramatic loss of faith in Biden's administration and fitness, and especially the assassination attempt add up to an opportunity Trump must seize: permit these people to consider Trump as a human being and not as an avatar for Hitler.
Hitler's power wasn't taken, it was given. And once he had control he enacted his horrifying, dictatorial agenda.
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 16, 2024
The same dynamic is at play with Trump. pic.twitter.com/PKKzyJFomc
Some Never Trumpers are, for the first time, open to the idea that he is a human being with some virtues and the Democrats are unfit to lead our country.
It's impossible to overstate the opportunity. I spoke with my father, who hated Trump and briefly considered disowning me in 2017 after Trump's election simply because I was a Republican. He was that upset, believing the hype that Trump was Hitlerian because the mainstream media kept saying so.
He is unlikely to vote for Trump, but he is listening. He has hopes that Republicans might just be interested in fixing what ails America. He even likes J.D. Vance's focus on the working man and woman. (He permitted me to share this with you). He isn't changing parties, but he has been losing his fear of Trump and his faith in the mainstream media after the debate.
It is easy to miss that most Trump-skeptical people are so because they believed the hoaxes, and they believed the hoaxes because of media figures they thought they could trust. But those MSM figures have turned out to be liars and purveyors of hoaxes.
Now, Trump has to reassure these now-only Trump-skeptical people that the hoaxes were just that. They need to see a humble Trump asking for their trust and vote. If he can do that, a huge preference cascade will catapult him to victory. If he doesn't, this election will be far closer than it needs to be.
You can see the mainstream media turning the page, if reluctantly. Slate and The Nation have sympathetic pieces on the Republican convention, profiling delegates as sunny, optimistic, and nice. Gayle King gushed over Trump's appearance at the convention. The Gold Star families moved ABC's Terry Moran.
GAYLE KING: When President Trump appeared at the convention, "I felt the emotion, sitting in my bedroom, coming through the TV screen." pic.twitter.com/P8HPSE4J10
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 16, 2024
ABC's @TerryMoran on the Gold Star families at #RNC2024: "David, I'm not sure I've ever experienced anything like that at a convention. The connection between this crowd and those family members of the fallen. It was just absolutely extraordinary. The emotions, the call and… pic.twitter.com/Nr8pTUT6mu
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 18, 2024
This is a unique moment in both our country's history and Donald Trump's political career.
So far, he has been remarkable since the debate. He has played this perfectly. His convention is masterful. His speech could seal the deal.
If the speech isn't pitch-perfect, he is still likely to win.
If it is, it will be almost inevitable.
