No one in American history, perhaps even the history of the world, has ever confronted this level of opposition, both from his self-proclaimed detractors and the broader establishment, and not changed their attitude, style, or approach in the slightest.
Passionately adored by his supporters and just as passionately hated by his detractors, the only thing both sides can agree on is that former President Donald Trump remained uniquely unconstrained by anything resembling convention across almost a decade in politics. There is no modern politician who speaks like him, acts like him, fights like him, and yes, infuriates like him. There might be no politician who has ever done so, certainly not in the face of constant pressure from everyone to change his behavior in some way, dial this back, focus on this instead of that, modulate his tone, display some discipline in his messaging, or any of the other million criticisms he has received over the years. While some of it was well-meaning advice from supporters rather than attempts to neutralize his strengths by his detractors, President Trump rarely listened either way, trusting his own instincts and abilities to attempt what many considered impossible from the very beginning. Forget 2015 and 2016. Consider that barely two years ago, even conservatives, such as John Hinderaker from Power Line blog were writing, “A consensus is emerging among Republicans that it is time for Donald Trump to get off the stage and stop damaging his party and his country…Trump is toast. He has a few fanatical followers, most of whom were never reliable Republicans or even consistent voters. They can go down with his ship if they want to. But the rest of us need to look ahead and begin the process of choosing a vastly better candidate in 2024. That will be a low bar.” Regardless of these and similar sentiments, Trump remains the only President in United States history to have never served in the military or a lower office, not even having run for one prior to the 2016 primary. He is among a handful who earned his party’s nomination three times including Henry Clay, Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryant, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon. Of those, Clay and Bryant were perennial losers, and only Cleveland, Roosevelt, and Nixon actually ascended to the presidency. Roosevelt prevailed four consecutive times while Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy in 1960, then won 1968 and again in 1972. Cleveland is perhaps the closest to a Trump historical analog, having won in 1884, lost in 1888, and won again in 1892, essentially what the former President is hoping to accomplish after losing in 2020. At the same time, the political world was quite different back then. The candidates didn’t even campaign themselves. There were no rallies, no crisscrossing the country, no press conferences, no interviews. There was rarely even a single speech for the media to mull upon much less pick apart, leaving the entire election to surrogates, who would attempt to make their preferred candidate’s case on their behalf, frequently based on little information if not outright wishful thinking.
While Cleveland and the others certainly had their detractors (Cleveland himself was falsely accused of rape), there was nothing remotely comparable to the scrutiny or the scale of the political and legal onslaught that President Trump has faced during this relatively brief period as a politician, not even close, making it a wonder he remains in the race, much less a slight favorite to win. The extent of these attacks are hard to fully capture at this point, especially in a single post, whether you believe they’re well-deserved or otherwise. From the very beginning, he was routinely maligned as a racist, xenophobe, and a misogynist, declared politically dead on the spot, claims that would follow him to this day, except amplified to include being an actual rapist with the blood of these various groups either figuratively or literally on his hands. It was said he was in the race only for publicity purposes, perhaps to sell books, another set of claims that would evolve over time until some say he’s running now mostly to avoid going to jail. He was frequently labeled an outright fascist, compared to Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and others, a champion of white nationalism and white supremacy that would bring the country back to segregation if not worse. Even before he took office in January 2017, Democrats attempted to steal the election from him by urging his electors to defect and prevent him from being properly certified as President. When that failed, they promised impeachment inquiries as soon as possible whether or not there was actually the predicate for a crime. He was investigated by the FBI, which illegally spied upon his campaign, and then a special counsel for supposedly colluding with Russia to steal the election in the first place. He was accused of violating the Constitution’s obscure emoluments clause for enriching himself by continuing to operate hotels that were in existence long before he took office. He was threatened with the 25th amendment to the point where some in his own administration considered spying on him as well by wearing a wire, and the belief by some that he’s in cognitive decline remains a staple of their criticism. He was the target of a government resistance that claimed thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of his own employees in the executive branch were undermining his authority. When the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in 2019, he was impeached twice, once over a phone call and once for supposedly spearheading an attempt to overthrow the government, conducting an actual coup or insurrection to remain in office. He was banned from social media, and turned into a social pariah. Since becoming a private citizen, he has been indicted three times, two at the federal and one at the state level. He was targeted by a civil suit in New York, and sued for defamation. He was convicted on 34 felony counts earlier this year, and the other legal efforts remain ongoing. He still faces potentially hundreds of years in prison, and has so far spent somewhere around $500 million in legal fees. Most recently, he survived two assassination attempts, one where he came within less than an inch of having his head blown off on national television, only to rise up from the ground, bloodied but beaten, waving his fist in the air and chanting, fight, fight, fight.
In other words, other politicians might have earned their party’s nomination three times or even four in the case of FDR, and Grover Cleveland in particular might have won two non-consecutive terms, but no one in American history, perhaps even the history of the world, has ever confronted this level of opposition, both from his self-proclaimed detractors and the broader establishment sometimes known as the “uniparty,” and not changed their attitude, style, or approach in the slightest. While some would say this is not necessarily a good thing, insisting that truly great politicians course correct as needed, there is no doubt that it remains perhaps his most defining feature, the one thing about Trump that truly makes him Trump and separates him from everyone else that has aspired to the Oval Office or perhaps any office in the land. In the face of adversity, political, legal, and physical, combined into the likes of which no one has ever endured, he remains himself and no one else. He has not bent. He has not broken. He hasn’t so much as wavered a little. If anything, he has only redoubled his efforts at times to prod and shock the chattering classes into entirely new levels of outrage, knowing they will seize upon a particular statement and even seemingly enjoying it. Beyond the indomitable will required to do so, whether it originates from narcissism, self-interest, or some higher calling, there are few politicians in history with the resources to remain standing in the face of these battles. Back in 2012, Mitt Romney was considered extremely wealthy to be running for office, regularly maligned as a corporatist sitting on a huge pile of cash like Scrooge McDuck or Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. President Trump, however, has spent more than twice his predecessor’s net worth at the time on legal fees and fines alone. Mitt Romney or almost anyone else would’ve been bankrupt long before this point, rendered unable to continue the fight even if they wished to, while Trump and Trump alone has had both the resources necessary and the commitment to use them to continue his quest for a third term his way.
Here, we likely get to the heart of why he is adored and hated in equal parts. Broad swaths of the Democrats and the establishment have spent almost a decade attempting to silence him. They have completely and totally failed in a way they would’ve considered impossible prior the Trump era. Surely, the combination of an unprecedented media onslaught plus massive legal complications would shut the man up? It didn’t. If anything, it backfired because to an extremely large extent, we live in President Trump’s political world at this point and the radical way he has changed the political calculus will not revert back to the norm anytime soon. While his supporters are keen to tout his accomplishments in office, which I believe are substantial, perhaps his most lasting legacy is that he has defined practically every major issue for the foreseeable future, shattering the bipartisan consensus on immigration, international relations, trade, abortion, the size and scope of government, race relations, organized labor, and more. He has done this far more so than seems possible for a man who has only been elected to office once and who has faced significant opposition from within his own party the entire time. When Vice President Kamala Harris went to the border last month, she did so because he has elevated the need for a strong border into one of the most important issues of the entire election. When she talks about cutting taxes and strengthening families, she has gone so far as to adopt some of his policies as her own including no taxes on tips and the child tax credit. When she talks about bringing back manufacturing jobs and rebuilding our industrial base, she’s talking like he was circa 2016. When she takes credit for ending the war in Afghanistan, she does so because Trump upended the neoconservative movement, began the process of withdrawing from America’s longest war, and has repeatedly questioned the establishment’s fetish for unwinnable wars in general. For better or worse, I am sure you have your own examples and your own judgements about what might be better or worse in the first place, but wherever you stand on the issues, it’s clear that President Trump has both remade the Republican party and how the issues themselves are talked about on both sides. Whatever happens when the votes are counted, this is the reality of the world after Trump. Of course, if he wins, his unique political genius will be undeniable, having accomplished the most epic political comeback of all time. If he loses, the second guessing will begin, and while some of that is natural and necessary, it doesn’t really matter either way. President Trump wasn’t going to change at this point, nor should he have. To some, he has been literally anointed by God to save America. To others, he has arisen, figuratively from the dustbin of history, to destroy it. Regardless of your personal opinion, he stands almost alone in historical terms, and will continue to do so as the singular political figure of our era and beyond.
Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 