The 2020 elections have shattered two populist myths: Donald Trump’s invincibility and the left’s ascendancy in U.S. politics.
Trump has spent a lifetime burnishing his legend as an unbeatable wheeler and dealer. Never mind that his business career is littered by failed ventures and six trips to bankruptcy court. Through sheer force of will, Trump always wins in the end.
Or so he wants his supporters to believe as he sulks in the White House and insists, without a shred of proof, that he’s been cheated out of reelection. In a sign of how badly negative partisanship has warped our politics, 70% of Trump’s supporters say they believe the vote somehow must have been rigged against their hero.
To paraphrase the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not to their own version of reality. In the real world, Joe Biden won about 5.5 million more votes than Trump and a comfortable Electoral College majority of 306-232.
Nonetheless, Trump is trying to milk cash from MAGAland, ostensibly for recounts and lawsuits, even as he privately tells White House staffers he’ll run in 2024 if things don’t go his way. But will Trump’s bulletproof mystique survive once he becomes a certified loser and joins the ranks of presidents denied a second term?
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