The sequence of events has been stunning:
May 30: Donald Trump is convicted on 34 felony counts for business fraud to cover up hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. Sentencing is set for July 11, right before the Republican National Convention.
June 27: President Joe Biden turns in a shockingly bad performance in a nationally televised CNN debate with Trump, leading to calls that the 81-year-old president — who seemed feeble during the debate and often was incoherent — step aside as the Democratic Party dissolves into chaos and second-guessing.
July 1: The Supreme Court rules that presidents are immune from prosecution for “official acts,” but can be tried for private conduct. The 6-3 ruling really was about protecting Trump, who filed an appeal with the MAGA-dominated court challenging the admissibility of evidence in the former president’s Georgia election-fixing trial.
July 2: Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial and conviction — the first time Trump had ever been held responsible for his criminal actions — agrees to delay the July 11 sentencing to sometime in September.
July 13: Trump sustains a minor wound to his right ear during a shooting at a Saturday rally in Butler, Pa., in which an attendee and the alleged gunman — a 20-year-old man perched on a nearby roof — are killed. Trump immediately dropped down behind the lectern after he was grazed, then was quickly swarmed by Secret Service agents and led off the stage. But not before resorting to his usual cheap “tough guy” theatrics — fist-pumping and shouting “Fight!” as two streams of blood trickled down his face.
July 15: MAGA judicial plant Aileen Cannon dismisses the Trump classified-documents case in Florida — the case with the most solid evidence by far of Trump’s wrongdoing.
That’s six significant, potentially election-impacting events in the span of 46 days. I probably even left out some stuff. My point is that there are 113 days until the Nov. 5 election. All kinds of shit — both good and bad — can happen between now and then. So there’s no need to panic or despair yet.
Which isn’t to say I haven’t been panicking or despairing since Saturday evening. How can you not when it now appears as if the stars are aligning for Trump and MAGA? By my count, three of the four criminal cases against Trump are dead or deeply imperiled after the Supreme Court decision and Cannon’s dismissal of the classified documents case on a technicality. I know I wrote in February that we can’t count on the courts to save us from Trump, but Jesus Christ, throw us a fucking bone.
Trump, who fomented an insurrection in January 2021 that resulted in multiple deaths, who still refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election, and who won’t say he’ll accept the results of the November election, reportedly is going to call for “unity” during his acceptance speech later this week at the Republican National Convention.
He will not. Instead, Trump’s call for unity will be a veiled (or not) demand for submission and surrender. That’s all he knows. People don’t change, and Trump’s ear wound changes nothing.
For that reason, Democrats must remember what is at stake. Everything we know about Donald Trump — his volcanic anger, his seething resentments, his obsession with dominance and punishment — renders him unfit for office. So too do his plans, which are being watered down for this week’s RNC coronation but are entirely reflective of Project 2025’s ambitious goal to create a Christian nation under autocratic, one-party rule across the three branches of government and the military.
Low-information and independent voters are at great risk of being dazzled by iconic images of the bloodied but unbowed patriot warrior who survived an assassin’s bullet by the grace of God, all so he can resume Making America Great Again. You have to admit that’s a compelling story, laced with magical thinking as it is.
The Democrats must counter with their own compelling narrative, one that warns of the dark days ahead should Trump win. The Democratic nominee — and at this point it’s almost assuredly Biden — can’t be cowed into pulling punches about Trump’s character and plans for a second term (even if Trump feigns civility through the summer and fall) because of this shooting. The record is the record.
One problem with that strategy is that it puts Democrats in the position of being doom-and-gloomers. (What’s next? Spooky QAnon theme music at Biden rallies?) And if Trump somehow can convince voters that the shooting was one of a piece with his TOTALLY UNFAIR prosecutions, he can further burnish his martyr credentials while demonizing the Deep-Staters.
It’s far from over, but the Democrats are going to need help to win in November. That’s the reality of the situation. And it sucks.
But losing is not an option.
(From Project Orange: Saving Democracy From the Trump-MAGA Cult)