Former President Donald Trump delivered a controversial speech in rural Pennsylvania, intended to address issues of affordability, but instead veered into personal attacks and political grievances. During this appearance, he boasted about the resurgence of holiday greetings, claiming that under his presidency, “Everybody’s saying ‘merry Christmas’ again.” This statement serves to further his deepening meme that connects all things holiday spirited with Trump-style identity politics.
Affordable housing talk was drowned out by an adversarial Trump taking on any and all critics on race, ethics and immigration. He attacked Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, joked about renewable energy and windmills producing cancer, and made fun of transgender people. His inflammatory speech even included attacking President Joe Biden, calling him a “son of a bitch.”
In a clear form of political intimidation, Trump attempted to intimidate GOP senators in Indiana. He pressured them fiercely to adopt a controversial, gerrymandered redistricting plan. All of these efforts were faced with strong opposition resulting in the senators killing the proposal. This failure marks a growing rift between Trump and some Republican legislators. For all the talk of his power—power for the GOP in general—going into a very consequential midterm election year next year.
At this point in time, the prospects of Trump succeeding or sinking Republicans is quickly fading. Compounding these challenges, he was attacked for his fledgling healthcare plan, an effort that was criticized by members of his own party. His calls to abolish the filibuster were met with total dismissal. At the same time, his calls for $2,000 tariff checks directly to Americans never got approved.
When it came to consumer goods, Trump unleashed a string of incoherent analysis of America’s holiday shopping habits. He suggested that families could reduce their purchases by stating, “You can give up certain products. You can give up pencils … Every child can get 37 pencils. They only need one or two.” He added a similar comment regarding dolls, indicating that “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice.” These comments have already been condemned as tone-deaf to the struggles of millions of American families.
Trump’s hand-picked speaker of the House is facing open rebellion from Republican legislators, further complicating his already fragile standing within the party. The former president has gone much further than even creating a chilling atmosphere against dissent. He has directly threatened any disobedient legislators with primary election challenges using his considerable war chest.
Which, as we enter this new and uncharted scamdemic era, begs the question of how his populist approach will affect the 2022 midterms. His political capital would appear to be running out. Whether he can bring Republicans together behind his agenda remains to be seen.