If you were asked to describe what a Republican wipeout would look like seventy-odd days from a US presidential election, it would be hard to argue it wouldn’t look like the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week. It has been unusual, to say the least, even if some of “the unusual” has been entirely usual for conventions: the surprise guests; the crazy, loud, brash, but utterly entertaining roll call of states; the obligatory crowd from Wisconsin in their cheese hats; and a litany of musical hits that the Republicans could only hope of using with the consent of the artists. Yet there’s also been a palpable glee around the event which is beginning to feel like a new normal. In the immortal words of Arlo Guthrie’s protest anthem, Alice’s Restaurant, they may think it’s a movement.
Conversely, if you were asked to describe what the end of MAGA would look like within this same timeframe, it would be hard not to describe a former president making appearances before diminished (and increasingly impassive and bored) crowds, with a mood considerably darker than any we’ve seen before. Longtime Trump watchers will have noticed the change, even if events have distracted somewhat so the media haven’t made much about it.
