Trump's Mojo Is Perilously Close to a 'Please Clap' Moment

If you find yourself wondering just what in the heck is going on in American politics today, welcome to a rapidly growing and not-at-all-exclusive club. It’s a mess that is difficult to get to the bottom of, even for those of us who speak and write about this stuff for a living.

Mystery Number One for me since the red-trickle midterms has been trying to figure out what’s up with one Donald J. Trump. There was a time in the not-too-distant past when I wanted to see him come roaring back, poised to curb-stomp whichever sap the Democrats decided to run for president in 2024.

Well, he’s back, but the roar is more like a whimper and is often drowned out by hiccups.

There’s a lot to unpack when it comes to what I think of Trump right now. Yes, I voted for him and loved much of his presidency. I am not, however, the fan club type; I’m a grown-up who understands that politicians are our employees, not our heroes.

Because of that, I can question Trump when he seems a little off to me. Right now, he seems a lot off. In fact, at times I want to put his picture on a milk carton and report him missing because the Trump I’ve seen in the past few weeks often seems like an impostor.

For example, his demeanor was subdued when he announced that he would be entering the 2024 race for president. Many said that was because he was trying to broaden his appeal, which very well may be true. However, it’s his shoot-from-the-lip, no-filter approach to public speaking that appeals to me. A lot.

The somnambulant Trump who announced his 2024 candidacy almost put me to sleep.

I’m not the only one questioning where the present-day version of the Trump Train is headed.

In his weekly Insanity Wrap column, my friend Stephen Green wondered if this presidential run will actually end in a presidential run. He makes some very good points about why it may not. It can’t be ruled out that this is all a money grab (more on that in a moment).

This week brought us the best and the worst of Trump 2022.

Kevin wrote about the “best” part:

Trump declared war Thursday on those who have been censoring online content by releasing his plan to “reclaim” free speech for the United States.

That’s something substantive and necessary. Trump lays out what he will do if he becomes president again. It’s a great conversation to have even before that.

I barely knew about that news, and I follow politics all day every weekday. It got lost in the fact that Trump spent more effort hyping the news that he is literally becoming cartoonish. That’s what people have been talking about.

Look, I get that the Escalator MAGA faithful love crap like this. We’re at a critical point in American history, though, and I would like to see Trump focused on something more than throwing meat to the fanbois like a seal trainer at Sea World.

It worked, of course. The Truth Social (the dumbest social media platform name until the libs launched Mastodon) gang bought up all of the NFT “cards” in one day. Kudos to the big guy for bringing back NFTs just when it looked like the world was moving on from them. Maybe he can get his team working on a MAGA Vintage View-Master to sell next.

In a recent VIP column, Matt wonders whether Trump has jumped the shark with this nonsense. He rightfully concludes that “…this doesn’t look like the move of a serious candidate.”

It should be noted that all of us who are writing stuff like this voted for Trump and will do so again if he is the nominee. However, I want the Trump I voted for last time, not this JEB! 2.0 energy guy who’s been hanging around for the last couple of months. I’d like to see him stop obsessing about making the Truth Social wasteland a thing and get back to Twitter to trigger the libs until they’re all passing out from the hysteria.

I would also like to see Trump act like he really wants to be president again.

Sorry, hardcores, I’m just not getting that vibe.

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