Kamala Harris gets it. Yes, we should fear Trump—but we should also mock him mercilessly, because it drives him nuts.
Donald Trump is in free-fall. Read this description from Sunday’s Washington Post of how the GOP nominee spent last week: “[A]ides did not want a situation where he was watching the convention every night, getting angry, and then just golfing all day and stewing, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private interactions. Trump also had grown annoyed with the news coverage that depicted him as not working as hard as his opponent, one person who talked to him said.”
If you didn’t know that the article was about Trump and you just read it cold without knowledge of the context, you might think it was a description of parents trying to figure out how to handle an ungovernable four-year-old. So they convinced Trump to get out of Bedminster and hit the road, trading suck-ups with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In the past, Trump has called Kennedy the “dumbest member” of the Kennedy family and a “radical left lunatic.” Kennedy has calledTrump a “terrible human being” and “probably a sociopath.”
You’re right. He has been mocked the whole time, and mockery isn’t the determining factor.
He has simply played out his power arc. The same mockery that didn’t land before now lands, because he’s on the downside.
Populism depends on emotional support from the people, but if you don’t have a framework that actually meets the peoples’ needs (or is effective at controlling them) you just rise as the restless populace tries you, then fall as they toss you aside.