But in the end it’s about Mr. Trump, isn’t it? He is the living context and the constant question: For or against? He has had significant achievements—unemployment down, economy up, the courts, an imperfect tax bill that nonetheless got passed and was slightly better than what it replaced. No one seems to mention it, but America right now is enjoying prosperity and peace—or, if you prefer, growth and no new wars. It is a continuing amazement that with this the president can’t get himself to 50% approval, or his party in a better position.
Yet of course it’s no mystery. He obscures his victories with his crazy. And so in the weeks before the election he rants around about “Horseface,” and compares MBS to Justice Kavanaugh, the victim of unproved allegations. He continues to rag on Attorney General Jeff Sessions: “I could fire him whenever I want to fire him, but I haven’t said that I was going to.”
It is political malpractice on an epic scale and cannot be helped because he lacks self-command and is vain. He thinks nobody communicates like him. Nobody does. He thinks nobody breaks through like him. Nobody does!
In the first 18 months of his administration, those who pointed out that he’d made a good decision, or failed to castigate him enough, were sometimes accused of “normalizing” Mr. Trump. But normalizing him wasn’t within their power. Only Mr. Trump could normalize Mr. Trump, by enacting normality and self-possession. He could have opted for a certain stature—the presidential stage, with its flags and salutes, almost leads you by the hand to stature. But he hasn’t.
His supporters, especially Republican candidates, would love it if he’d put his arguments in the foreground, not his drama and weirdness. It is remarkable that he hasn’t cared about them enough to do this, to give them that kind of cover. He’s lucky the mainstream media hate him so much, and in showing that hatred stiffen his supporters’ loyalty.