President Donald Trump Will Remain in the Spotlight

Written by Molly Jong-Fast

The common misconception within American politics is that Donald Trump will simply fade away. I vividly recall the first time someone told me that Trump would just vanish. This was right after the election that he was expected to lose. (You recall the 2016 elections, don’t you? When just a day before, Hillary Clinton was leading Trump by nearly six points in the RealClearPolitics polling average, only for him to deliver a shocking win.) A New York friend well-acquainted with Trump assured me that he would despise being president as the White House was too old-fashioned and too modest for his extravagant lifestyle. Trump preferred golfing whenever he desired and jetting off to Palm Beach, Florida. Washington DC, with its almost non-existent glamour and yes, golf was not for him. This enlightening conversation left me feeling reassured. He would certainly hate his presidential status! He would surely resign! Many others were also comforted by this notion, even betting that he would withdraw from the race prior to his surprise victory.

However, four years later, after Trump distinctly lost the presidential election to Joe Biden, some still failed to grasp reality. A high-ranking anonymous Republican continued to live in this dream world, stating to The Washington Post, “What is the downside of pacifying him for now? No one genuinely believes the outcome will be different. He spent his weekend golfing. It’s not like he’s scheming how to prevent Joe Biden from taking reins of the presidency on Jan.20. He’s tweeting about petitions he plans to file, those will be rejected, and he’ll tweet some more about the rigged elections and then he’ll depart.”

Contrarily, scheming was the exact activity Trump had engaged in! Non-Trump-following Republicans could have averted a political triumph by Trump by ousting him for provoking the insurrection, but they didn't. They hoped to see him fade away into obscurity at the Mar-a-Lago; they could also have rallied behind another candidate, but this too didn't materialize. Consequently, Trump outshone Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley in the Iowa caucuses, with almost two-thirds of the caucus-goers that night refusing to accept Biden's clear victory.

Despite facing two impeachments, 91 criminal charges, and several civil suits, Republicans are once again supporting Trump. Marco Rubio, who once labeled Trump a “con man,” backed him just before the caucuses where it was clear Trump would win comfortably. On Sunday, in a display of political self-interest, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum—who had once refused to associate with Trump—endorsed him. Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire, who had been advocating for a GOP alternative to Trump for months, claimed that he would continue to support him, even if Trump was convicted of a felony.

Mike Lee, a senator from Utah who is an advocate for “defending the fundamental liberties of all Americans and upholding America's founding constitutional principles,” seemed to be more than willing to attempt to reverse the 2020 election results. Lee texted Mark Meadows, Trump’s then chief of staff, hinting at a possible method to appoint alternative delegates. On Friday, Lee openly endorsed Trump again.

Lee spoke to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, stating, “Look, irrespective of your feelings towards Donald Trump, or if you agree with what he says, he is our one chance to prioritize order over chaos and put America before everything else.” Apparently, order is the first thing that comes to mind when people think of Trump!

Even Fox News, which had once appeared all in on DeSantis, pathetically surrendered to Trump with last week’s town hall in Iowa. And DeSantis noticed the shift, “He’s got basically a Praetorian Guard of the conservative media—Fox News, the websites, all this stuff. They just don’t hold him accountable because they’re worried about losing viewers and they don’t want to have their ratings go down, and that’s just the reality. That’s just the truth.” As much as it pains me to say this, DeSantis is right. Fox News has discovered it’s not more powerful than Trump. (Rupert Murdoch’s dream of a post-Trump GOP with Glenn Youngkin running for president never materialized.) Meanwhile, Fox News was rewarded with giving Trump the 9 p.m. time slot as their town hall soundly beat Haley and DeSantis sniping at each other on CNN.

Donald Trump, in other words, is not going away. Some Republicans can continue to entertain the fantasy that he will get bored or fall victim to “actuarial arbitrage” due to, say, his age or health. And big-money donors like the Koch network can continue to try for a Hail Mary with Haley. But here’s the problem: Even if Haley magically won Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Trump could run as a third-party candidate; he and his MAGA base would still be looming over her.

After all, the former president is running to stay out of jail, and few things are more motivating than the fear of imprisonment. So there is no wishing Trump away. Joe Biden must beat him again, like he did in 2020. And even then, we have to pray that Trump will finally abstain from political life and slink quietly off to golf in Palm Beach for the rest of his days.