01-12-2021, 02:04 AM
(01-11-2021, 10:44 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: I can easily imagine that President Trump will make sure that he is no longer here to be kicked around (whether he goes into exile or seclusion will not matter) once he is the ex-President that he thought that he would not be.
The core support of people who need someone like him to fully excite them will still be there. There could easily be another demagogue like Trump to excite the same people -- enough to get the GOP nomination. I too see occasional banners, but I see fewer.
American's don't like losers. They particularly despise whiny losers. For many Republicans, Trump was over the minute he lost the court cases, even for those who believe there was a lot of hinky stuff around how the election was run. The number of people who even showed up in Washington D.C. for a legal, peaceful protest was something like 10,000 which is pretty tepid. The March for Life gets at least 3 or 4 times that, even in a blizzard.
What I think many on the left fail to see is that a large percentage of Trump's support was less his rabid followers (although I know there are many of them) but more people who felt his policies/presidency would be less detrimental to them than the alternative. The dems are 100% capable of pulling that group over to them. They just have to give the impression that things are getting back to normal again, avoid passing any large-scale controversial legislation (i.e. make smaller changes or steal some of your opponents ideas and start touting them as your own a la Clinton. You can save the GND for 2022 if the country decides to back you), stay the hell away from touching SCOTUS and increasing the number of states (you can nuke the filibuster if you want, nobody really knows what it is anymore, but it will come back to bite you someday), and (most importantly) try to find a way to draw a line between those who can be welcomed with open arms and those who are to be shunned that doesn't involve performative acts of repentance. The last one is the hardest.