Jeff Greenfield writes:

Even apart from Trump, the American public has long shown a desire to break with “normal” politics in ways large and small. It means the voters of Alaska can send a write-in candidate to the Senate, as Lisa Murkowski proved after she lost a GOP primary. It means the voters of Minnesota can elect ex-wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor on a third party. It means the voters of California can — for the first time ever — recall a sitting governor and put an ex-body builder-turned-actor named Arnold Schwarzenegger in his place.

It’s that realization that accounts for Trump’s presidency in the first place — a bizarre version of the slogan “Yes we can!” made famous by another noted “change” candidate. In 2016, Trump voters said yes we can put a candidate with no experience and no traditional qualifications into the Oval Office; yes we can ignore the warnings of the mainstream press; yes we can vote for change more radical than any in our history.

In 2024, however, Trump’s claim of change is much harder to come by. For one thing, voters are being asked for a restoration; Trump’s already been in the White House before. For another, Trump seems incapable of putting aside his 2020 defeat; he persists in relitigating his false election theft claims, even to the point of assailing the hugely popular Republican governor of Georgia. Whatever else that is, it is not change. [Continue reading…]