Back during the first months of the Trump presidency, then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich made a prescientāif not entirely originalāobservation about his one-time rival for the Republican nomination: āYou donāt put an animal in the corner without the animal striking back, [and] you donāt put a politician in the corner ā¦ without them expecting to strike back at you.ā
Kasich was correct in his assessment of Trumpās approach to leading Washington, and itās a strategy thatās re-emerged as the ex-President faces increasingly urgent risks coming at him from all directions. Luck, it turns out, is a finite commodity. And a ginned-up gerbil can do more damage than a complacent cheetah.
Trump is under indictment in three separate criminal cases and is out on bond. A fourth criminal case out of Georgia could come as soon as this week, and preparations underway in Fulton County sure look like prosecutors in Atlanta are bracing for a chaotic scene. The trials would derail Trump for weeks if not months at the exact time he would need to be pandering to voters. And, despite being atop the polls of Republicans looking to be the presidential nominee in 2024, the risks to both his frontrunner status and his freedom are real enough that itās sending him spiraling in search of a distraction.
āIF YOU GO AFTER ME, IāM COMING AFTER YOU!ā Thatās what Trump posted on his Truth Social account over the weekend, prompting Justice Department lawyers to ask a judge in the case involving election interference to issue a protective order. The not-at-all-subtle warning was part of a litany of all-caps threats that brought to mind various unhinged stretches of posts when he used to frequent the platform previously known as Twitter. When Trump wasnāt complaining that he was a victim of a politically motivated prosecution (āWHAT THE DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE IS DOING TO ME IS THE SAME THING DONE BY THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES ALL OVER THE WORLD.ā), he was going after the U.S. team for its loss in the Womenās World Cup, singling out star player (and Trump critic) Megan Rapinoe for an errant foot: āWOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!! MAGA.ā
Sure, Trumpās social-media footprint has never been a particularly sophisticated logic-based realm. But for the first time since he joined the presidential fray back in 2015, Trump sounds genuinely scared, like he finally seems to be realizing his luck may be unique but not limitless. His knack for defying political gravity has been evidenced since his first campaign, when any other nominee would have been felled by the same series of missteps, scandals, and self-immolation; Trump instead somehow rode the fire-engulfed dumpster all the way to the North Lawn of the White House.
Trump has long enjoyed lashing out at those he perceives as insufficiently loyal. No one has been immune, be they real challengers like Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or just perceived threats, as were the cases of Pope Francis, George W. Bush, and Megyn Kelly. But these latest attacks, somehow, feel different in a changed environment that no longer guarantees fearful fealty from his rivals. Where he previously launched his rockets with abandon, he is now being more direct to respond to would-be usurpers.
To Trumpās credit, his reflex appears to be more tactical than in the past.
Take, for instance, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the closest thing that Trump has to a rival for the nomination next year. While Trump enjoys a massive lead over the Anti-Woke Warrior from the Sunshine State, DeSantis has been working on retooling a failure-to-launch bid, and it seems like heās rethinking his deference to Trump. In an interview that aired on NBC News this week, DeSantis for the first time finally stopped pussyfooting around whether Trump won in 2020. āNo, of course he lost,ā DeSantis said. āJoe Bidenās the President.ā After more than 1,000 days of playing coy games and dodging any declaration about Bidenās legitimacy, DeSantis has finally concluded it is time to treat Trump like the man to dethrone.
DeSantis, who on Tuesday replaced his top political hand, had been walking the line. For months, the default has felt like a backhanded defense of Trump at every turn, living both in contempt and cower of the ex-President. But two weeks ago, during a swing through Iowa, DeSantis subtly jabbed his one-time self-considered patron. āI donāt consider myself to be an entertainer,ā DeSantis said in Osceola. āIām a leader. And thatās what you get for me, somebody that will deliver results.ā The ceiling of the distillery where he spoke didnāt collapse, and DeSantis marched on. (Trump, naturally, told a conservative radio host that DeSantis should drop out for the good of the party.)
DeSantisā footingāand Trumpās counter-punchāhas seemed to grow stronger in recent days. Until recently, only former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been an unabashed critic of Trumpās return to power, a lonely spot but one that is starting to have some pals testing its viability. After all, 78 looming felony charges gives even the most mild of candidates permission to at least raise the question of Trumpās true viability in a rematch against Joe Biden. āThis election needs to be about Jan. 20, 2025, not Jan. 6, 2021,ā DeSantis said in Waverly, Iowa, during that weekend bus tour.
Similarly, former Vice President Mike Penceāthe one who spent four years as Trumpās loyal and self-censoring understudyāhas started to rev up his critique of the ex-boss, and thus draw his ire. While Pence has hinted at his antipathy toward Trump and, in particular, his former bossā conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, the intensity has increased of late. And not coincidentally, Trump has targeted more of his public attacks on Pence, as he realizes that his former vice president poses a real threat to his legal woes, given his first-hand access to the West Wing during the final weeks of Trumpās tour there.
Pence predicted Trumpās realization was coming, telling The New York Times on July 30: āI think weāre coming to a fork in the road.ā
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