Not only was Trump’s character a sunk cost since we’d had a decade of attacks on that character, the electorate wanted a presidential campaign that talked about their problems and circumstances
I agree entirely about Trump’s character being a sunk cost. I think the man is a moral sewer, but his opponents seemed to believe that if there was just one more revelation or if they could make one more argument that he’s a bad man, there were Trump voters from whose eyes the scales would fall and who would change their vote. It was always a delusion.
I agree with much of this but inflation was the biggest economic issue on the doorstep (along with immigration). America got inflation down after Covid ahead of pretty much anyone else and the most recent set of econ indicators were pretty stellar. Whoever was the encumbent would have been facing the same public distaste for recent price increases and would have been kicked at the ballot box. As were the Conservatives in Britain. Hard to see how Dems could have distanced themselves from inflation although they could as you say have focused more on other economic good news, of which there was and is much. So I think Burn Murdoch's analysis is quite important.
The idea that Trump, enthusiastic owner of beauty pageants, would have women dress like The Handmaid's Tale (best-selling harem porn of all time), shows just how silly his opponents were.
I agree entirely about Trump’s character being a sunk cost. I think the man is a moral sewer, but his opponents seemed to believe that if there was just one more revelation or if they could make one more argument that he’s a bad man, there were Trump voters from whose eyes the scales would fall and who would change their vote. It was always a delusion.
I agree with much of this but inflation was the biggest economic issue on the doorstep (along with immigration). America got inflation down after Covid ahead of pretty much anyone else and the most recent set of econ indicators were pretty stellar. Whoever was the encumbent would have been facing the same public distaste for recent price increases and would have been kicked at the ballot box. As were the Conservatives in Britain. Hard to see how Dems could have distanced themselves from inflation although they could as you say have focused more on other economic good news, of which there was and is much. So I think Burn Murdoch's analysis is quite important.
The idea that Trump, enthusiastic owner of beauty pageants, would have women dress like The Handmaid's Tale (best-selling harem porn of all time), shows just how silly his opponents were.