Has the Donald learned his lesson since 2020? The best I can muster is an enthusiastic, shoulder-shrugging “maybe.” Trump has certainly grasped just how ruthless the machine really is. Back in 2016 he was a chaotic, irreverent non-politician—half wrecking ball, half circus act—easily outmaneuvered by career politicos who had spent their lives perfecting the art of treachery. He made plenty of mistakes because he didn’t yet understand the battlefield he’d wandered into.
Now? Now he’s chaotic in a different register—perched on the edge of “what the hell” territory, but unmistakably a politician. The man has entered the game proper. He plays it far better than before: sharper, more brutal, more calculating. But in doing so, he’s also become something I’ve always found deeply unappetizing: a political creature. A player. Perhaps that’s inevitable at that altitude; the system grinds everyone down to the same shape eventually.Am I angry with him for it? Not in the slightest. Watching how the world really works, how events unfold because momentum is its own tyrant, has given me a peculiar peace. I don’t hope anymore. I don’t fight the tides I cannot shift. I simply watch the spectacle, detached and entertained. Whatever the outcome, the show goes on.