Jacob Heilbrunn

A Trump comeback? Don’t bet on it

He did it. Donald Trump made it through four years, not an accomplishment many of his detractors thought he would achieve, or even wanted him to. ‘See you soon,’ Trump said. A promise or a threat?

The truth is that Trump has been badly diminished by his antics in the past few weeks, starting but not ending with the melee on 6 January. His enemies didn’t torpedo his presidency. He torpedoed himself.

Trump’s valedictory remarks on Tuesday gave the game away. He couldn’t bring himself to breath the name of Joe Biden. He assumed zero responsibility for the pandemic, barely restraining himself from referring to the ‘Kung Flu’. And he bragged about how great the economy was under his watch even as it continues to falter. It’s as though Herbert Hoover boasted about how great his presidency was apart from the lamentable intrusion of the Great Depression.

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