My impression from the convention is that Republicans, from Trump on down, are absolutely certain he’s going to win.
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What I saw at this convention wasn’t confidence. It was overconfidence. It was complacency. I saw a party and a candidate who expect a coronation, not a campaign. Who believe that the general election will play out exactly as the primaries did.
What I saw was a tired, meandering old man playing the hits. Still trotting out Lee Greenwood and Franklin Graham.
He says this is an opportunity. He’s sure that Biden will step aside and that “Donald Trump will not run against a zombie campaign the rest of the way. He will be challenged by someone young, scrappy, and hungry.”
I don’t know about that. It seems likely today but who knows? This drama seems to be continuing and the media can speak of nothing else. Last says, ” the Trump we saw last night can be beaten. And the fact that Republicans don’t realize this only adds to his vulnerability.”
I think that’s right. If the Democrats can get it together.
Last gives credit to Trump for not turning the convention into a call for retribution. But is that really true? They were all chanting “fight, fight fight” and wearing pictures of him raising his fist with blood all over his face. He wore that bandage like a purple heart. The convention did seem very low energy all in all but it was probably because the shooter was a registered Republican and yet another young gun nut with an AR-15. In other words, one of them.
But he is worried anyway:
That said, I am concerned about how Republicans will react if Trump loses.
Because that crowd seemed to find the idea of a Trump defeat utterly incomprehensible.
I don’t mean that these guys think Trump is an overwhelming favorite.
I mean that there did not seem to be any recognition that defeat was possible.
You know how, in football, a team that’s favored by three touchdowns will still say, “Sure, but on any given Sunday. That’s why we play the games. Yadda yadda yadda.”
There was none of that. Zero.
I am concerned that this iteration of the Republican party lacks the ability to countenance a loss.
I fear for what a Trump administration would do if he wins. But I also fear for what this Republican party will do if he loses. Because they have moved past electoral politics and into the realm of messianic prophecy.
Yep. They do not think it’s possible to lose. And as I wrote this morning, the ruthless operatives in the GOP are laying the groundwork to exploit that. If Trump wins it will be a nightmare. If he loses it will also be a nightmare. Better the first than the second but either way Trump and MAGA present a clear and present danger.
Prematurely spiking the ball plays right into that plan. And frankly, the Democrats are helping them do it by acting like a bunch of sad sacks telling the media they can’t win. You can already hear them say: “There’s no way that guy could have won! Everybody said he was losing!”