But wait, isn't this what Trump always does? He rants and raves about his grievances and a sizable faction of Republican voters lap it up — right?
Not exactly. When Trump ran for president in 2016, he bonded with his audiences mainly on their terms, placing himself in their camp, defending and championing them against all the fools and crooks who had turned the country into a "disaster" (his favorite adjective during the general election campaign). Once he'd ascended to the White House and found himself in the position of having to defend himself against charges of collusion with Russia and other misdeeds, Trump's public remarks were much more defensive and focused on himself. But he was also the president, which allowed his fixation on "deep state" antagonists to be transmuted into a battle for Republican survival more generally.
But now? Either Trump is the sorest loser in the history of American democracy — the Big Baby his critics always claimed he was — or else he really did win in a landslide and yet nonetheless allowed himself to be deposed and banished to South Florida while Joe Biden effortlessly took over the White House in a coup. Either way, he looks very small indeed.
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