This past Tuesday night, when I could have been doing any number of more productive, less mind-numbing things with my time, I found myself staring into the joyless, deadened eyes of former president Donald J. Trump — at least, I would have, if he had managed to look at the camera even once. During the entirety of his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump seemed dull, uninspired, and exhausted. How, I wondered, could this be the same man who successfully mocked and memed his way into the White House in 2016? How is this the same man who practically rewrote the guidebook on running a successful presidential campaign in the digital era? After his debate performance, the truth cannot be denied: Donald Trump has lost his edge.
I can’t say I’ve ever been a Trump supporter, but his decline is still a bizarre, weirdly unsettling thing to come to terms with. Becoming politically conscious at the same time as Trump’s presidential ascendance meant that initially, I couldn’t fully appreciate how novel a force he was. People my age, for the most part, do not remember American elections pre-Trump in detail — quippy discrimination, dreadful debate etiquette, and a Republican party infected by MAGA cultishness are all we’ve ever known, and it’s what many voters have come to expect in place of the dry, subtle bigotry of conservatives past. Losing to Joe Biden in 2020 only served to reinvigorate Trump’s base who, following January 6th, have been counting the days until their leader is able to return to the Oval Office.
Unfortunately for them, the person they seek to reelect no longer exists. The Trump of elections past didn’t necessarily present himself as more intelligent, but he was sharper, quicker to fire a solid comeback, and far more successful in dominating his opponents on the digital battlefield. Deep down, I’m sure that many conservatives know the “Donald Trump” they rally for hasn’t been around in quite some time, while others have yet to notice or care about their leader’s gradual decline.
Where did The Donald go?
An obvious element at play here is one that affects all politicians: Trump has aged. Prior to Biden’s election, Trump was the oldest president to ever assume office for the first time at 70 years old, and if elected in 2024, he will be set to run the country until he’s 82. Biden’s strides toward senility over the past eight years have been stark, something Trump was undoubtedly counting on to overshadow his own aging process — but Trump is very much in cognitive decline himself. Comparing his debate performances from 2016 to anything from the past two years makes this abundantly clear, and now that he stands next to 59-year-old Kamala Harris instead of 81-year-old Biden, it is unmissable.
This decline is perhaps most evident when examining changes in Trump’s rhetoric. Today, Trump’s social media pages are pockmarked by cringey slogans and memes that are very reminiscent of the posts that labeled his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, as corny and out of touch. A Trump-endorsed AI-generated video picturing the presidential candidate dancing to “Stayin’ Alive” alongside Elon Musk that made the rounds recently feels more akin to Clinton’s awkward Madonna collab than Trump’s 2016 branding. He can’t decide on which of his Kamala Harris nicknames should get top billing in his tweets: Kambabla, Comrade Harris, Crazy Kamala, Laffin’ Kamala, and Lyin’ Kamala are some of his failed attempts to get something to stick, none of which have quite the same impact as a simple “Crooked Hillary” or “Sleepy Joe.” More and more often, the number of people laughing at Trump outweighs the count of those laughing with him, something that is proving to be subtly devastating to his persona.
Of course, the failed attempt on Trump’s life also factors into this. It can sometimes be easy to forget that mentally, Trump is prone to the same trauma responses and psychological processes that most humans are, and since that Pennsylvania rally, there has been a mellowness to Trump’s character that wasn’t there before. I’m in no place to determine whether or not Trump now suffers from PTSD, but it’s safe to assume that his near-death experience still weighs on him to some degree, despite photos from the moment painting a portrait of strength.
Unfortunately for Trump, he wasn’t even able to effectively use this traumatic event to his advantage, as many liberal political commentators feared he would. The RNC’s proximity to the assassination attempt stopped Trump from milking the adrenaline boost it provided to his campaign, as the announcement of JD Vance’s nomination not only drew attention away from the shooting, but quickly proved itself to be a political sedative (and that’s being generous). As mainstream media moved on to more pressing matters — including Biden’s stepping down and Kamala’s nomination — the near-death of Donald Trump quickly faded into the background.
The most significant blow to Trump’s persona, however, is far less dramatic. To put it simply he is tired: tired of weathering the shifts in public opinion, tired of his criminal acts finally catching up with him, and tired of the effort that staying on pace with the younger, sharper Kamala Harris is demanding. At the beginning of his campaign, Trump expected to be up against one of the only relevant Democrats older than himself. Biden’s incoherence and lackluster (though progressive) presidency were low-hanging fruit; Biden himself was easy to bully. Trump’s team was so confident in his victory being a slam-dunk that they felt comfortable picking JD Vance, a man who adds nothing to the ticket and has all the charm of a gas station bathroom, to be his running mate. Facing Harris-Walz is not what Trump signed up for, and as his many Truth Social rants scorning Biden’s departure suggest, they are not a pair he is adequately prepared to fight.
For the first time, Trump is truly looking upon a nation that is losing interest in him. Behind Harris stand Dick Cheney, Taylor Swift, Barack Obama, and the most glowing endorsement a presidential hopeful can ask for: that of a supportive, loving family who the average American can relate to. On the other side of the stage is Trump, standing alone in the shadows of his felony charges and past scandals while affair rumors gather overhead.
Now more than ever before, it’s clear that Trump’s heart just isn’t in it anymore — it hasn’t been for a while — but a perfect storm of missteps and missed shots has undoubtedly shoved his deterioration into the light of day. The only thing that’s kept him in the race this long seems to be the same resentment of “losers” that spawned one of his more infamous quotes from the 2020 election news cycle. If Trump somehow manages to win the White House in November, it is likely to be his last hurrah: Expect a flurry of tunnel-visioned, truly Trumpian decisions that will leave his presidential successor scrambling to rectify the damage. In the case of a historic Harris win, however, with little hope for another campaign and his impending criminal sentencing, I wouldn’t be surprised if the loudest voice in America goes out with a hoarse whisper.
