Jonathan Last wonders if we're seeing "the high- water mark of Trumpism":
... Do you think Republican voters are likely to become more comfortable with Trump the more they see of him over the next 10 months? I do not. Historically, Trump’s approval numbers have moved inversely to the magnitude of his public presence.
I expect that once there is a real race, with Biden actually hitting Trump where he is softest, and Trump is in everyone’s face, we are likely to see some erosion of Republican support for Trump at the margins. Not a huge decline—but enough to measure. Enough to be dispositive.
Finally: Do you think Democratic voters are likely to become more disaffected with Biden over the next 10 months? I do not, for two reasons.
First, because the objective economic facts continue to improve and filter through the electorate. Second, because as we approach the election, not supporting Biden transforms from being a signal of dissatisfaction with his administration to an act of concrete support for Trump. On this score, I suspect we are near the high-water mark for Biden discontent among those Democratic groups and that they will gradually return to their party’s fold.
All of which is to say that it is hard to see why Trump could move any further ahead and not difficult to see why Biden’s standing could/should improve...
Well, we'll see (said the blind man). To paraphrase from the original German, "The Republican Party is Trump; Trump is the Republican Party." "Trumpism" is both the id and ego of the Christofascist base of the party. It's always existed in one form or another and to one extent or another throughout American history. It's not going away. It simply has to be defeated at every opportunity if we're to survive (even barely) as a democracy.
