Being charged inside a courtroom changes a man. By the Z-Man.
Then we got Obama and his post-racial message, which ended with the beginnings of a race war.
This is why Trump won in 2016 and why Biden won in 2020. Trump came to symbolize the frustrations of white people after two decades of abuse by elites. He was a clenched fist aimed at the jaw of Washington. Biden, of course, was the answer, a moral nullity, as well as a husk of man. He was selected by Washington because he was the best defense against the mobs and their Trump fist. In both cases, the candidates were merely instruments, rather than genuine candidates.
It is why DeSantis has no chance against Trump. A moderate Republican governor with a solidly conservative record would have been ideal in 1992. He may have been a good choice in 2012. After all, Romney came close to knocking off Obama.
In this age of madness, no one is looking for the steady hand, because the ship is on fire and being boarded by savages. What people want is a warrior that strikes fear in the heart of the enemy, even if they do not realize it.
Donald Trump, of course, is not that warrior. He has always been a civic nationalist, who trusts the system. Events, however, have cast him in the role, which is why he has struggled to find his footing. On the one hand, his supporters want him to burn it all down and on the other hand, his opponents act like he is trying to burn it all down, while he is desperately trying to make a deal to keep it from burning down. He bounces between the two poles, enraging both camps.
Men who have been to prison say that they became different men at the moment they heard the cell door close the first time. Anyone who has been inside a courtroom knows that even with the best results, it is a transformative experience. You are subjected to the pure power of the state. It is where the power of the state is clear. One has to wonder if Donald Trump, standing in a Manhattan courtroom today, facing life in prison, will have such a transformation.
Even if he is too old to see it or too afraid to acknowledge it, the spectacle itself is opening the eyes of many people. This is not about Trump, but about a system that no longer works as intended. Instead, it has become a weapon in the hands of bitter, deranged fanatics. A system that can so easily be perverted to destructive ends is no longer worth defending. That is the new consensus forming up as we see the system destroy itself in these rage panics.
