"He could have overturned the election!"
Trump said the quiet part out loud. He wanted to overthrow the 2020 election.
Trump is more "Trump" than ever. Lucky Democrats.
Donald Trump gives Democrats a path to victory in 2022 and 2024.
We are still in the era of Trump. Biden is president, but Trump commands center stage and sets the agenda for the public mood. Polls show a majority of Americans accept Trump's take on Biden's economy (a disaster), Biden's foreign policy (mishandled), Biden's border and immigration policies (invasion), and Biden's COVID response (ineffective, tiresome tyranny.) A majority say America is on the wrong track. People are sick and tired of COVID and want to blame someone. Pew.
Biden means well. He is not the evil socialist tyrant that critics on the right claim. He does not have the majority he needs to do the job Democrats expected. That disappoints them. Republicans revel in obstructing him and he is easy to obstruct. That makes him look weak. Public health hawks--and still-overflowing hospitals--won't let Biden declare victory over COVID. The economy is so strong that inflation is a threat. A significant job of the president is to embody and voice a narrative that describes the state of our union. Biden cannot transform into a vigorous leader inspiring a nation with a tone of new energy and purpose, even though the story he could tell is a good one. We knew Biden's limitations from day one. Biden being president means no other Democrat can play that role. Trump takes the opposite side and sells it.
There is one big opportunity for Democrats: Trump himself.
Trump announced in Texas that if he returned to office he expected to pardon the January 6 rioters. He urged more protest violence if prosecutors in Georgia, New York, and D.C. brought charges against him. He isn't hiding from being a provocateur; he is doubling down. He is openly signaling to people who might testify against him that he is ready to pardon them the way he pardoned Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone and others. Trump is planting a flag. January 6 and his efforts to overthrow the election were good and proper. Trump isn't about being good. He is about beating the rap.
This is a kind of "Swift Boat" approach. George W. Bush took the worst comparison between himself and John Kerry--Bush's irregular service in the Air National Guard vs. Kerry's medal-winning Vietnam service--and reversed the polarity. Don't hide a weakness. Make it an unapologetic strength. Attack the opponent's strength. Bush's campaign attacked Kerry for being a shirking coward, dodging incoming bullets on the Mekong River. Vietnam was far away and long ago. Bush got away with this re-frame.
Trump's behavior is current. Prosecutions on the January 6 insurrection and Trump's plan to overthrow the election are front and center now. We see the forged electoral votes, the invented Justice Department claim of vote fraud, Trump's plea to Georgia to "find votes," and the plan for Pence to discard votes. In New York and Georgia we see state crimes prosecuted. Even Trump-loyal Republicans want to avert their eyes. Let's look at the good things Trump did, not this, they say. There is political space there for a Republican and people are trying to claim it.
Trump is being Trump. He won't let them take that space. To be a Republican and not be a "Wacky Susan Collins," one needs to eat the whole Trump meal. January 6 rioters were patriots and the 2020 election should have been overturned. He said it aloud in Texas and he posted it:
Trump had the political room to "clean up" and mellow. GOP voters would still go along. Instead, Trump says openly that he wanted to overthrow the 2020 election.
A great many Americans will go along with Trump. Americans' commitment to democratic process is fragile. They want the win, not the democracy. But Trump is taking away the fig leaf allowing Republicans to pretend they support both Trump and the democratic process.
"He could have overturned the Election!"
GOP candidates cannot hide from this. Trump isn't moving on. Trump is making this part of the GOP brand and message. That gives Democrats a huge opportunity. Sweet are the uses of adversity.