JIM TREACHER: Donald Trump Just Won.
Regular readers of this newsletter, and people who hate my guts, don’t need to be told my opinion of Donald Trump. And speaking as someone who has managed to stay off the Trump Train for the past eight years:
This kicks ass.
* * * * * * * *
Remarkable. My non-MAGA hat is off to him.
I’m glad the assassin missed his target, I’m angry that he killed a bystander, and I look forward to finding out how the hell the Secret Service allowed it to happen.
The shooter wasn’t just evil, but stupid. He just handed the election to the guy he wanted to kill.
How does Trump lose after this?
Similarly, Tony Diver of the London Telegraph writes: The attempt on Trump’s life changes everything.
The polls already suggest that Trump is likely to win back the presidency in November, after a torrid few months for his opponent and a criminal conviction that has had little impact on his popularity.
If history tells us anything, the events of Saturday will only increase his support. In the months after Mr Reagan was shot, the newly-elected Republican president saw a poll boost of eight points.
Ed Morrissey adds, “Fight!” “No one, not even Trump’s worst critics, can possibly deny his physical and mental courage in that moment just after he barely missed having his head blown off. That will also have a veeeery big political impact on the electoral cycle, but we can cover that as it unfolds. It will have a galvanizing effect on Americans who have seen Trump as their champion, of course, but it may well have just as much of a galvanizing effect on millions more Americans who haven’t seen anything inspirational in politics for years. It might remind them that our country and our culture is worth fighting for.”
UPDATE: Jeff Blehar of NRO: An Iconic Image. “If you can’t understand why that is exactly what every normal American was hoping to see in that moment, then you probably couldn’t grasp why George W. Bush electrified a nation by standing on a pile of rubble with a bullhorn and promising that the United States would come calling — and soon. I make no secret of my opinion of Trump. It doesn’t matter. This was — in a way that even skeptics must concede reflects upon something in his core character, because you can’t plan getting your ear shot off — arguably the finest moment of his entire life to date. He probably won the election tonight.”