Trump The Incumbent

Created
Thu, 29/08/2024 - 02:00
Updated
Thu, 29/08/2024 - 02:00
Over the weekend Donald Trump whined that the Harris campaign was treating him like the incumbent and it’s totally not fair: The fact is that they are framing some of the campaign as a referendum on Trump. And why wouldn’t they? He’s running on the lies about the alleged halcyon days when America was great (2017 -2019) and she’s running on “a new way forward” and “we’re not going back.” If he doesn’t want to be seen as the incumbent maybe he should stop pretending he is one. From the moment Trump glumly flew off to Mar-a-lago on January 20, 2021 he’s been acting like a president in exile. He’s been running a shadow government, with GOP officials rushing to get his permission before they take any action and everyone clamoring for his dispensation in their election campaigns .One of the most obvious examples of his power with the GOP was his thumbs down on the painfully negotiated bipartisan border bill. He didn’t even pretend that it had anything to do with the policy, he just didn’t want Biden to be able to run on it as one of his accomplishments. He essentially vetoed the bill from his Gilded White House in Florida. Throughout his time out of office he has run the Republican Party, endorsing candidates, choosing issues and basically acting as the president for his party. He flies around on a plane he calls “Trump Force One” and he uses an ersatz presidential seal at any podium he…