Former President Donald Trump offered America a throwback to past national angst and a possible future of even greater drama in a CNN town hall on Wednesday.
It’s up to Republicans – and perhaps eventually the country as a whole – to decide whether it wants to go through it all over again.
The former commander in chief and the frontrunner in the GOP primary showed in New Hampshire exactly why his Republican fans flock to his combativeness and refusal to submit to codes of presidential decorum and why he has had the GOP in his grip for years.
But in outbursts of election denialism, untamed fury, misogynistic comments about a sexual assault case and by refusing to agree Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal, he also showed why many in the GOP fear he could again alienate enough voters to hand the White House to Democrats in 2024.
And he gave President Joe Biden an even wider opening to argue the country can’t bear a second Trump presidency.
“I have the absolute right to do whatever I want with them,” Trump said of classified documents he hoarded at his Florida resort when he left office, although he might also have been referring to his wider belief that there should be no constraints on his power if he wins another term.
But as horrifying as his demagoguery is to many, the reality of Trump’s strong lead in early primary polls is that millions of Republican voters don’t see this even more torqued version of the most disruptive president in American history as disqualifying.
It is exactly what they want and why they love him. And if he eventually becomes the Republican nominee for the third time in a row, he has a chance to be the next president.
“I like Trump and what he stood for and now, I like him more,” said Joanne Rouston, a former Democrat-turned-Trump voter who was in the…
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