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Trump now finds himself as a post-pandemic candidate after being a pre-pandemic president, trapped by his usual bluster of blaming officials he hired, or never fired, over the way the Covid response was handled. Faulting the governors of Georgia or Florida won’t cut it when Trump was in charge of the country. He cannot hide behind the podium on this. How he deals with this quandary going forward will define his coming candidacy.
But then that leads us back to our question – why? Why does Trump, now age seventy-six, want to go through this again? What is the case for subjecting the country to another Trump candidacy? Because, as of now, it does not appear that Trump’s heart is truly in it in the same way as when he descended that escalator amid a sea of cameras and cheers. Right now, the only apparent reason for another Trump candidacy is because he wants to avenge his 2020 loss like a boxer. (Also, as MSNBC talking heads will remind you, legal problems.)
Trump is not someone used to being rejected or told no. In 2020, voters rejected him and told him no. To set out now to assuage his ego is not going to be enough. Voters will see right through it.
If 2024 is about winning for winning’s sake, and reliving every grievance from 2020, his candidacy will be a fool’s errand and an exercise in personal vanity, something Trump knows a thing or two about. Yes it’s true: he might once again secure the GOP nomination, and he could certainly make a case against Joe Biden’s handling of the economy and foreign affairs. But Trump has shown no ability to focus on these things, especially when the national media would rather engage him on election denialism.
For a Trump candidacy to be successful, he has to give the country a reason to look forward. As of right now, it doesn’t appear he’s capable of that.
A version of this article was originally published in The Spectator’s world edition.
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