Donald Trump, the twice-impeached former president and convicted felon, is finding out the hard way that even his most loyal supporters can only stomach so many of his antics.
Back in 2016, Trump rode a wave of anti-establishment fervor to a shock victory. His rallies were somewhat packed with passionate supporters eager to hear his unfiltered thoughts on everything from immigration to “crooked Hillary.” But fast forward to 2024 and the picture couldn’t be more different. Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed his utter incompetence as he downplayed the virus and pushed quack cures like injecting bleach. The deadly January 6th Capitol riot, incited by his baseless claims of a stolen election, was the final straw for many die-hard fans. Even loyal allies like Mike Pence have distanced themselves from the disgraced ex-president and notably did not attend the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Nowadays, the only lost souls still paying attention to Trump are the bots and trolls on his struggling Truth Social platform. He’s reduced to typing in all-caps and sharing conspiracy theories to a dwindling audience of true believers. Alyssa Farah Griffin, a CNN political commentator and co-host on The View, aptly points out this shift in public sentiment. Having worked closely with Trump in the past, Griffin’s turn against him isn’t just a personal betrayal — it’s emblematic of a wider trend of Trump fatigue.
While Trump petulantly waves at empty bleachers with his trademark constipated grimace, his nemesis Kamala Harris is whipping up tsunami-sized crowds of adoring fans on the campaign trail. And Griffin is spot-on in her assessment of the shifting political winds.
Harris, who seized the Democratic crown after President Biden waved the white flag in late July, is striking a chord with young voters repulsed by Trump’s bile-spewing bigotry. The right-wing chattering class’s ham-fisted attempts to diss Harris as a “childless cat lady” have backfired spectacularly, as legions see it as yet more proof of the GOP’s baked-in misogyny and sneering disdain for women’s rights. With Trump and his goons hell-bent on criminalizing abortion and dragging America back to the Stone Age, it’s no shock that fed-up citizens are ditching the MAGA mob.
Trump’s alarming tumble against Harris in the polls is glaringly obvious in crucial swing states, where the two bitter rivals are locked in a neck-and-neck brawl. As it turns out, voters aren’t exactly stoked about morphing America into a dystopian Christian caliphate, no matter how much Trump and his Bible-thumping bootlickers lust for it. The reeking stench of fascism wafting from the Trump camp is getting harder and harder to ignore. In a word, Trump fatigue is a five-alarm fire, and it might just be the kryptonite that propels Kamala Harris to shatter the White House’s glass ceiling once and for all come November. And if she does, Alyssa Farah Griffin will have the last laugh.
Published: Aug 19, 2024 04:13 pm