In New York, Trump was personally successful by "playing the game" - greasing the skids with politicians and gladhanding the right people. Famous and influential people of all political stripes wanted to be, and to be seen, with him.
What attracted me to him was his transformation into someone who wanted to change that game as a disruptor.
But I made the point a last year that the 2016 Trump was not the same as the 2020 Trump - and now the 2024 Trump is even further away from 2016 than ever.
I don't know if it is the wear and tear of nearly 8 years of assaults from the DOJ, the civil lawsuits, or the very effective use of the pandemic by Democrats that changed him, but there is no doubt in my mind he has changed. He seems to be returning to his old form.
It seems a vindication of what Rudyard Kipling noted, "...the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her mire, And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire..."
He is attacking competitors from the left, assuming Democrat positions on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He supported establishment critters like Ronna McDaniel at the RNC over Harmeet Dillon, the clearly conservative change agent we needed, and he endorsed some distinctly non-conservative candidates in the mid-terms. He is promising outcomes he can't deliver - no president can modify birthright citizenship with an EO. He has been curiously reserved on treatment of the J6 protesters. His positions on "fake news" purveyors is softening and he is childishly tweeting/truthing about anyone who doesn't kiss his ring. The name calling isn't novel or amusing anymore - its worn and tiresome.
It seems to me that he is only interested in getting payback and not too interested in policy any longer.
His attack on DeSantis for saying we need 8 years was just idiotic. Trump says he could do it in 6 months. I guess he learned nothing from his first term when every executive order wound up in the courts for years - and were no court granted stays for the GOP against Biden, they all did for the Democrats vs. Trump. DeSantis was right, if change is going to stick, it is going to take Congressional involvement and a huge effort to cut the federal government down to size, something that can't be done with an EO.
His 360 degree free fire zone is preventing any GOP candidate from attacking Biden or the Democrats and is keeping Biden’s missteps (and trips) and failures out of the discussion.
In Trump's pursuit of vengeance, he is putting Republicans back in a corner. Vote Trump in the primaries or else, but he may have tarnished both his own and the GOP brand so much, he loses the general to either a desiccated corpse, a woman with a cranial cavity filled with oatmeal, a slick haired commie poseur, whose greatest accomplishment is making California unlivable, or Heaven forbid, a a Michael Obama/Oprah Winfrey ticket.
Trump might well win the presidency again - but then the general distaste he is creating on top of the Democrat seething hatred might just prevent us from holding the House and recapturing the Senate. That would be catastrophic. We can't withstand another Democrat controlled White House and Senate.
We also can't withstand winning, but by such a narrow margin as not to be able to bring real change to this corrupt Leviathan of a government.
If we can't win all three branches by a substantial margin, we won't be able to govern, and the Trump drag might just result in a win without victory.
I can't wait for the EverTrumpers to attack me for this post - but this is not the same man who we all pulled for in 2016 and after. I know it and you do, too - even if you don’t want to admit it.
He has changed, and not for the better.
All I ask is that you step back and make an objective assessment.
Sadly, when all is said and done Trump's legacy will be the unleashing of a full blown Socialist revolution both as a backlash against him, and because of his now multiple election losses. In fact you can pinpoint where it all went wrong, his temper tantrum in Georgia in 2020 allowed the election of two Marxist/Socialist Senators who voted for all the blowout spending and all the rest of the revolution taking place before our eyes.
I'm still hopeful for a Trump reverse pivot. The attempted legal entanglements, valid or not, may ultimately sideline him. We'll see!
But is Ron DeS up to job of governing as a principled conservative after being funded by Globalists/CoC/Bushites? I don't get that sense from him, and I see no other likely candidate. Pence is not such a man, none of the Governors inspire confidence, including my own Gov. Abbott.
We DO need a fighter, but also a coalition builder! Trump fits the first and last descriptors, but is lacking when it comes to coalitions.
I'm a lame, old, fat man! I may not make it to 2024. On the other hand, I have the genetics to make it to 2040! We'll see. But I sincerely fear for our Constitutional Republic, and I don't see anyone other than Trump that is remotely fighting to preserve and protect it!