What If Trump Returned and Nobody Cared?

Relegated to retired Florida man by the New York Post, others seem to be in desperate need of making Trump matter again. It began with another bit of Elon Musk silliness on the twitters, a poll asking whether Trump should be let back in.

While he earlier “promised” to take no action until some council he planned to form rendered a verdict on changes, Muck impetuously chose a poll instead and, the the vote going slightly in favor of Trump, made his decision. Who cares?

In contrast, others who were hardly Trumpkins but favored more free speech, even by pariahs, pointed out that no matter how awful Trump is, allowing a former president and candidate again onto a platform where nobody, but nobody, has to give a damn what inane nonsense he spews isn’t a threat to democracy. As much as Trump did what he could to seize power upon his rejection,  the fact is he has finally been recognized as the single greatest failure in American politics, evidenced not merely by the death of the Republican party whose candidates were crushed because of their association with the biggest loser, but also the rise of extreme left wing ideology in the gaping hole Trump created.

And that is why they care. That’s why the NAACP is “outraged” at Trump’s being let back in. That’s why the ADL has split a gut. It’s not that they wield any influence with Musk such that he might have a change of mind, but that they want, need, Trump back in the faces of normal people so that people never forget how despicable he is. They need to build up his importance as a powerful threat to all things good and decent so that people who have come to realize that he’s a pimple that popped, his pus having been drained and leaving nothing but a pock mark, will once again tremble with outrage.

And vote for Democrats. And support progressive changes to a nation that would never be acceptable otherwise. Without the blight of Trump, the left could not win. They need Trump. They need Trump back, loud and awful. And they need to shriek about him, knowing that it won’t change his return but might make people care and fear and hate Trump as much as they did when they elected Biden in his stead.

The dirty little secret among the politicians of the right is that they’ve always known Trump to be a vulgar, narcissistic, deceitful ignoramus. But he was their ignoramus, shamelessly doing what they wanted by pandering to the worst instincts of the simplest people, the ones who Mencken said deserved to get democracy “good and hard.” They knew it then and they know it now, except now they realized that Darth Cheeto flamed out after having cost the Republicans in the 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections.

They should have realized it when Trump threw the Senate to the Dems in Georgia because of his puny broken ego, but still feared the clout he carried in the backwaters. But now that he’s blown it again, they’re done with Trump. Even Ivanka has had enough of him.

But guess who isn’t done with Trump, who still needs their evil villain to rally their unduly passionate gnats to put down this wannabe insurrectionist? After the Supreme Court in Dobbs did everything humanly possible to reinvigorate a Democratic and independent base that had grown weary of hearing the screams that the sky was falling, the Republicans made sure that the message was driven home with election denying, abortion denying, outliers who would rather suffer woke than any more Trump. Pushed to make a choice, they did. Trump lost. Bigly.

To the extent there is any hope for a return to normality, to reasonableness, to a future that isn’t a tyranny by the crazies of one side or the other, both of which believe they are the good guys and the other tribe is evil, it starts with no longer caring about Trump, whether he’s let back on twitter or not. Don’t be goaded into loving or hating him. He no longer matters. Let this blight on our national angst fade into the obscurity he’s so richly earned.

Imagine Trump on twitter and nobody cared except for the occasional lulz. He’s over and it’s time to move on.

13 thoughts on “What If Trump Returned and Nobody Cared?

  1. Paleo

    The fact that this matters at all, much less that it matters this much, demonstrates how vapid our politics has become.

    “Threat to democracy” has become on the left the equivalent of “groomers” on the right. Anybody who uses the phrase demonstrates themselves to be unworthy of attention.

    And nice to know that the NAACP no longer cares about due process, as they are happy to convict someone of a crime before that person is even indicted.

    Trump is a poison that not only destroys everything he touches, he has this Svengali like power to get others to destroy themselves.

  2. Redditlaw

    He’s not coming back to Twitter soon, except to tell people to drink their Ovaltine and join him on the best, newest, most fabulous social media site, Truth Social, where his closest, best followers have access to all of his insights as both President and the best, most successful real estate developer that Manhattan has ever seen.

    However, s**tposters can retweet his greatest hits from the archives once more, so at least we have that.

    I predict that the Bad Orange Man won’t return to Twitter until it is obvious that his presidential campaign isn’t going well, and he will try to rekindle the old flames.

  3. Elpey P.

    “It’s terrible! He’s a tHreAt tO dEmoCrAcY!! We need to shut down discourse and establish a Ministry of Truth, and let’s see if we can help him get the Republican nomination again like we did in 2016!”

    Trollocracy.

  4. Jay

    Ah one of Greenfield’s moments where his new York is the world bias shows. I can assure you he matters, his followers are millions, and many of them will still kill for him. But you go ahead and sit in your big city and tell yourself it’s over. Don’t expect my pity when they come for you.

    1. Guitardave

      ” I can assure you he matters, [ OK, for some people…]
      his followers are millions, [Look!, a meaningless fact! Yay!]
      and many of them will still kill for him.” [ … ]

    2. Charles

      Of course it is, Jay. And Saul Steinberg drew “View of the World from 9th Avenue” from this hotel’s rooftop bar.

  5. Pedantic Grammar Police

    The Trump presidency and post-presidency spectacle was a psyop run by the third biggest grifter in recorded history; the greatest entertainer of our generation. Trump masterfully used meaningless hot-button issues to make everyone hate or love him, not only in the US but worldwide, while changing nothing of substance.

    Without Trump, the excesses of the woke-fascist regime figureheaded by the withered husk of Joe Biden would have been checked by common sense and decency, but Trump allowed those restraining virtues to be discarded, because the evil had to be not only stopped, but destroyed, by any means necessary.

    Of course they aren’t done with Trump. He is still useful. And when he is no longer useful, he will live out his life in peace, just like all of the other “criminals” who served useful purposes as actors playing the roles of figureheads. None of them will ever be prosecuted. The flurry of Trump investigations is part of the show.

  6. Mike V.

    Ok, Trump is going to run (again) and is back on Twitter. Big Whoop. He only has the power people give him. Throughout his 1st Campaign and Presidency, I often said the Democrats and media should ignore him. But they couldn’t. I was convinced he often said things to make them lose their minds and they took the bait every, single, time. Had they established from the start that it wouldn’t work things might have turned out much different.

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