With enemy help, Trump show keeps rolling on
America likes to see itself as the political capital of the world, the economic capital of the world, the military capital of the world.
But its most important global role is more powerful than any of those. It is the showbiz capital of the world.
Indeed, since the end of World War II the US’S efforts in those top three spheres have been patchy to say the least: the Middle East peace process, the global financial crisis, Vietnam.
But there’s one thing America always manages to do spectacularly well: put on a show.
Sometimes, to be fair, the actors don’t even realise they are part of it, but that only makes it all the more compelling.
And this is what the humourless American left has failed to grasp as it is outfoxed and outdone by Donald Trump at just about every turn.
When Trump exploded on to the presidential scene a decade ago, both the left and traditional conservatives were absolutely flummoxed.
It was first assumed by the old right that he was so outlandish he would never get the Republican nomination,
Then, when that proved wrong, it was assumed by the left that he was so outrageous he could never win the general election.
But apparently the American people weren’t easily moved by the “I’m with her” campaign and Trump was swept into the White House.
After four fun years of attempts to delegitimise, dislodge, expose, sue and slander him, it eventually took the greatest voter turnout in US history – across an unprecedentedly broad spectrum ranging from Sanders socialists to Romney Republicans – to remove Trump from office.
And even then the left was lulled into the same lazy trap. It was finished, never again. The orange aberration was over.
And for a while this seemed to be true. Despite Joe Biden’s almost vaudevillian displays of cognitive decline on the global stage, the wind seemed to be sagging in Trump’s sails.
The predicted “red wave” of Trumpian candidates in the midterms never materialised and
Trump’s subsequent declaration for the presidency at Mar-a-lago was long, lacklustre and rambling.
Again, the assumption from the political pundits – myself included – was that it was all over. But we were wrong. This was never about politics, it was about show business.
And the hardest part of show business is always the follow-up, the old second album syndrome: the curse of the blockbuster is coming up with a sequel.
And at the time of the Mar-a-lago declaration it was clear that Trump had no plot, no backing and no budget. As the tortured actor is wont to ask himself, “What’s my motivation?”
Trump clearly didn’t know and apart from the same tired and untrue claims of the 2020 election being stolen didn’t even seem to have one. Again, it seemed all over.
And then, right on cue, the collective genius of the elite
American left swept in.
Having learnt nothing from the failed four years of lawfare under the Trump presidency, it sought to prosecute him out of the race.
Or, if another theory is to be believed, it sought to prosecute him into the race, believing he was the only candidate that the shuffling and shambolic Biden could beat.
Either way it was a massive stuffup. Suddenly Trump and his bristling supporters had a reason to fight. They were literally fighting for his freedom.
Thus the left managed to deliver a Trump sequel even bigger and bolder than the original, with a driving purpose that could not have been more high stakes nor more on script if it was devised by a roomful of Hollywood writers.
And this stadium blockbuster slash courtroom drama even comes with its own subplot of snot-nosed Ivy League students trying to hold their nation to ransom before being cleared out by the good old boys in blue.
And so not only has the collective left elite of America managed to deliver Trump the perfect script he was groping in the dark for, it has also managed to cast itself as the villain: the sinister deep state trying to shut down freedom and democracy, and wealthy, overprivileged brats lecturing the rest of us for not being good enough.
It never fails to astound me how stupid such self-anointed intellectuals are.
As a result Trump’s rallies have now taken on an even more
Messianic tone, with his entrance preceded by a Godlike prophetic shadow. And this from a man who only a year or two ago was a shadow of his former self.
What is clear is that despite all the institutional and political forces lined up against him, Trump has clawed himself from rock bottom back to top billing with as much help from his enemies as from his friends.
Not because he’s the greatest bloke in the world, nor because he’s the greatest politician – but because he is the greatest showman.