Well that didn't last long.
Throughout Sunday and overnight into Monday morning one of the most radical political transformations in U.S. history was being written. Old Trump—the nasty, malevolent, political operative who is bent on vengeance and stealing elections—was no more. Political insiders, commentators and writers were being briefed that, after the shooting and his miraculous escape on Saturday, a new man had risen.
He even planned to rip up his RNC script and instead of plans to attack Biden (and writing what he called a “humdinger”) he would instead present a moderate, unifying figure that was here to heal America’s divisive wounds. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now. It is a chance to bring the country together. I was given that chance”, declared Trump. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
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And who better to bring the country together than Donald Trump, right? The script was being re-written, radically. Meet New Trump, a martyr, newly “spiritual” and now bent on unifying the U.S.
He was a ban summoned from the gates of death in the new telling of the Pilgrim's Progress (Trump edition) Monday morning.
Brendan McDermid/ReutersIt was also complete bullshit.
Early on Monday morning when news came through that a Florida judge (and, totally coincidentally, a Trump judicial appointee) had dismissed the classified documents case, the real Trump once again emerged, and took to Truth Social;
“As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts — The January 6th Hoax in Washington, D.C., the Manhattan D.A.’s Zombie Case, the New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (a decades old photo in a line with her then husband does not count)....”
It was a Damascene conversion until this message dropped on Truth Social and then Trump was back to being Saul.
TruthSocialThe first half-sentence of the post is, comically, a nod to the Lazarus-like figure we were told would emerge from his near-death experience. But it didn’t last. And nor will this new fictional creation.
In the seconds after the shooting and after Trump had got back to his feet surrounded by Secret Service agents he raised his right fist and, face contorted into a mix of hate and rage, shouted “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
No-one discounts the feeling of distress, fear and anger that might engulf someone who has just escaped with their life. But this reaction—bent on vengeance, hateful and angry—was in keeping with everything we know about the former president.
And, yet, within hours it was as though Trump had been replaced with a stunt double. They were drafted in to play the Nice Guy (outside of Trump's natural repertoire). Soon we had a uniquely short Truth Social post, 'Unite America!'.
Has someone hacked his account?
Well, yes, in a way. His two campaign co-directors, Chris LaCivita and Susan Wiles, saw that the reaction to the shooting from senior Republicans was to blame Democrats.
Trump's key aides in his bullshit trasnformation are Chris LaCivita (immediately to his right) and Susie Wiles (immediately to his left).
Brian Snyder/ReutersThe language was incendiary and intemperate. This, they reasoned, would do nothing to convince Trump-curious potential voters—who had hitherto shied away from his divisiveness—to come to the polls in November.
LaCivita and Wiles summoned a Sunday morning meeting to call off the attack dogs. Speakers at the RNC were told that the GOP was going to dial it down, not turn it up, this week in Milwaukee. Trump had been given an opportunity to appear martyr-like and the GOP could now present a newly-sympathetic, even spiritual figure. It was a political gift.
As Politico reported, “The pivot was the brainchild of an early Sunday morning call with Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita, Jason Miller and pollster Tony Fabrizio... After hours of relentless and incendiary Republican attacks blaming Democrats for inciting the violence, the team agreed the party would need a reset.”
The first reaction of Trump and the Republicans to the assassination bid was the fist-pumping, snarling "fight, fight, fight." But that was quickly overtaken and turned into a message of unity. Which lasted under 24 hours.
Brendan McDermid/ReutersAnd it worked. Influential beltway politics site Axios, using a headline gifted to them by well-known political moderate Tucker Carlson, declared, “Getting shot in the face changes a man.”
“His advisers tell us Trump plans to seize his moment by toning down his Trumpiness, and dialing up efforts to unite a tinder-box America.”
The man who we came to know over the last eight years in and out of political office is no more. A man bent on vengeance, who always dials it up, not down, uses incendiary language, channels grievance and defiance at every turn, lies and tries to steal elections is no more. No more Mr. Nasty Guy.
Apparently.
Campaign co-directors LaCivita and Wiles have, to date, managed to craft a more moderate Trump. His debate performance was oddly benign (apart from the lies), and he chose not to hammer Biden while the president was under assault for his debate performance over the last two weeks. This stunt double duo have to continue to step in, edge the old Trump aside, and play Mr Nice Guy from now until November.
For this pivot (or re-write/scam) to work, they have to continue to rein him in at every turn. The portents, based on his Truth Social outburst this morning, are not good.
But it’s going to be one hell of an act to watch.
