Is Trump Fever Finally Subsiding?

I’m still in recovery from the election.

While many of the races nationwide were close, in the end, it was specifically a repudiation of Trump’s handpicked candidates and his brand of hate and conspiracy-mongering that he has been spreading since well before his presidency. A majority of voters, albeit an uncomfortably small one in some cases, clearly had had enough with the culture wars, the authoritarianism, the close call with the insurrection in overturning democracy and the peaceful transfer of power, the corruption, and his awful words. (I’ve always wondered why he’s so unhappy; he has been given everything!)

A week after the election, Trump announced he was running again in 2024. He has no campaign team in place, but it’s another way for him to fill his coffers and (he hopes) shield himself from any indictments that are likely coming.

There are some diehards still dreaming of another Trump presidency, but many Republican leaders greeted his announcement with little enthusiasm, and even some scorn among a few. The New York Post, long a Trump champion, famously rolled out a text-only, snarky headline along the bottom of its front page: Florida Man Makes an Announcement.

But back to my recovery. The midterms went very well for the Democrats; it was the best midterm election performance of a sitting President’s party in decades.

Sure, it would have been nice to retain the House, but given the dire possibilities, we could breathe easier.

Sure, Kari Fake is still trying to kick up some dust in Arizona, but she doesn’t have the national platform and bully pulpit that Trump had when he claimed (and still claims) election fraud.

But the Trump monster has been tamed and for that, I am in recovery.

Some of us naively thought he would fade away after the 2020 election and certainly after the appalling antics of January 6th. To our surprise, he rose up again, louder and angrier, and — even though he was out of power — most Republicans aligned themselves with his shenanigans once again.

And so 2022 became a referendum on him (just as his ego demanded) — and he lost. Again.

When I think of the last six years, arguing with friends on Facebook or trying my best one-liners to combat the Trumpers on Twitter. (More about Twitter in a moment.) Many rightwing folks countered our every argument with “It’s because you hate Trump.” As if his actions alone were not legitimate reasons to denounce him and his most cult-like followers.

Just this week on Twitter, a former Trump fan tweeted, after the Trump superhero trading cards announcement ($99 apiece!), “This is an embarrassment. I’m getting behind Ron DeSantis.”

When you think of the birther conspiracy that Trump trumpeted, the multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct (even a couple of rape charges in there), mimicking a disabled reporter, insulting Gold Star families and mocking John McCain’s war injuries, announcing a Muslim ban his first days in office, trying to bribe Comey, Charlottesville, shithole countries, trying to bribe Ukraine (impeachment #1), Trump holding an upside down Bible in Lafayette Square and his careless response to the George Floyd protests, his playing down of Covid and Fauci’s recommendations, causing thousands and thousands of needless deaths, and . . . and . . . I don’t even have the time or space to get into his Administration’s actual policies.

And yet, for this guy on Twitter, the trading cards were the tipping point, a bridge too far. Listen, I’ll take it. However it happens, his followers are slipping away.

And so, I am recovering. I was shocked that there was no violence after the election results.

Are we out of the woods? Not by a long shot.

After that calm couple of weeks after the election, many Republicans are doubling down on the hate. During the campaign, they harped about inflation and the border crisis. Today, who are their targets? Hunter Biden and drag queens.

You would think, after the election results, that the wise course for Republicans to take would be to move toward the center and away from hot-button privacy issues. No. Some (Greene, Gaetz, the barely winning Boebert, Jordan, etc.) are doubling down on the incendiary comments around culture.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, presumably the frontrunner should he decide to announce a 2024 run, is spending this week going after vaccines; he wants a complete investigation of everyone involved with making, distributing, and mandating the vaccines. Mind you, despite Florida being a warm state with lots of outdoor activity, it has a higher per capita death rate than most northern states with a greater population density. But it’s somehow the scientists’ fault, not his throw-caution-and-masks-to-the-wind policies.

And over on Twitter, Elon Musk seems happy to let his ego run amok and destroy his legacy as well as the platform. Although a much smarter man than Donald Trump, he seems eager to take his place as the new right-wing, conspiracy theory provocateur, making outrageous statements and taking eyebrow-raising actions.

So, other monsters will rise up. But, so far, nobody has matched Trump’s sheer number of daily lies and outrages. His audacity will be hard to match.

With his sinking poll numbers and half-hearted campaign mode, he’s going nowhere but down, down, down.

And that means, for those of us riding the anxiety wave for many years, we can come up for air. At least for the moment.

That’s something.