In case you were hoping Trump would just go away in January, it will not happen. He has consolidated his control over the Republican Party like an anaconda wrapping up a deer. His loyalists have been placed in the power positions, and he is the shot caller.
In the past, Republicans supported their party and the platform. But this year, for the first time in history, the party intentionally closed their convention without a platform. There was no list of issues, core principles, or positions. So the de facto platform became whatever Donald Trump said at any given moment. Being a Republican is no longer associated with any specific policy aims or political issues, and there is no plan. It is about one person. And that person is now a political zombie, a “dead man walking.”
Donald Trump, even though he lost, still controls all of the Republican votes and all of the party’s money. He also controls the Republican media and their viewers. Just because he lost the election, those facts will not change.
He will soon create a 2024 Campaign and start raising money immediately. That’s what he did right after winning in 2016, and he raised over $1 billion. Only $8,000 of that was contributed by Donald Trump. He spent a lot of that campaign money on his own legal bills, and he will do so again. Sometime in the next 4 years, Trump will come due on at least $400 million in personal debt. He may owe another $70+ million to the IRS. There are criminal investigations underway in New York state and in Manhattan. His company has been losing money, and it’s about to get much worse without the $10+ million he has charged the government at Mar a Lago and his DC hotel. His legal and financial problems will also entangle the entire party and conservative media because it is their job to defend him.
Make no mistake. No matter what else happens during the next 4 years, Donald Trump is still going to be the leader of the party and the owner of their votes. He will still be the hero of those who get their news from guys like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. That means other Republican politicians and conservative media figures will have to take his side, even when he is dead wrong. Turning on Trump, even after he is out of office, would be career suicide for them.
For the Democrats, this is the gift that will keep on giving. He has already dragged the Republican Party into the raw sewage of racism and moronic denial of science. As the nation moves forward in hope, Trump will become less relevant, even to his die hard fans. If he somehow manages to run in 2024, he will find that the tide has gone out. As his star fades, the party and Fox News will also fade. They have tied themselves to the mast, and they will go down with the ship.
