Trump’s big reveal suggests he’s finished
There was a flurry of excitement earlier this week when Donald Trump teased a “major announcement” for Thursday. “America needs a superhero,” he declared in a fifteen-second clip that featured an animated cartoon of the former president standing outside Trump Tower, ripping open his suit to reveal a superhero suit, lasers shooting out of his eyes. Very normal stuff for a former president.
Trump’s supporters waited with bated breath. Was his somnambulant 2024 campaign about to kick into gear? Could he be making a bid for House speaker, wondered some, waving aside the obvious practical obstacles to him doing so. Maybe he’d start tweeting again in a bid to nudge Elon Musk out of the limelight, speculated others.
Then came the actual announcement: the release of “official Donald Trump Digital Trading Cards.” Posting on Truth Social, the former president touted “limited edition cards” that “feature amazing ART of my Life & Career! Collect your favorite Trump Digital Trading Cards, very much like a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting… GET YOUR CARDS NOW! Only $99 each!” Yes, the former president was hawking NFTs.
Cue deserved derision from all sides and some anger from Trump backers frustrated by a presidential candidate who looks less like a serious contender by the day. On his War Room show, Steve Bannon demanded that anyone involved in this scheme be “fired today.”
The absurd NFT hustle is only the latest sign of Trump’s waining relevance. Two polls this week, one from USA Today and another from the Wall Street Journal, showed Ron DeSantis as the clear front-runner over Trump. The dramatic shift in Trump’s standing is both deserved and, given the month he has had, entirely unsurprising. Since the midterms that made clear that Trump is a hindrance to Republicans he has launched a presidential campaign too early, dined with a bona fide white nationalist, called for the suspension of the constitution and seen his company found guilty of tax evasion.
Meanwhile, down in Arizona, failed gubernatorial candidate and Trump favorite Kari Lake continues her doomed effort to overturn the results of the election she lost by disenfranchising millions of the state’s voters. The bid is kooky and, more important, entirely impotent. Arizona was supposed to be the epicenter of America’s Trumpist election-denier problem. With hardline Republicans in crucial positions, the state was said to be on the brink of something approaching a coup. Instead, it is the scene of a pathetic whingefest that embarrasses not only Lake but Trump too.
Lake’s dead-end campaign suggests that 2022 was the year that “Stop the Steal” came to a stop. And the NFT announcement points to the conclusion that it may also prove to have been the year when America moved on from Trump.
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Dance off switch
TikTok’s future grows less certain by the day. On Wednesday, the Senate passed a bill banning federal employees from using the app on government devices. The legislation was passed with unanimous consent and, though a far cry from the blanket TikTok ban favored by many on the right, suggests the existence of a bipartisan appetite for further action.
Nancy Pelosi is yet to give the bill a green light for a House vote. “I don’t know if that will be on the agenda next week, but let’s see,” she said yesterday. But with a Republican-controlled House around the corner, it is a question of when, not if, such legislation lands on Joe Biden’s desk.
Earlier this week, Senator Marco Rubio, along with Representatives Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Republican from Wisconsin and a Democrat from Illinois respectively, introduced legislation in both chambers that would ban TikTok outright in the United States. Democrats in the Senate have been cagey about their view on the legislation. Tellingly, none of the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee have ruled out supporting the bill.
Complicating the picture further is the Biden administration’s data security negotiations with TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance. The longer the administration waits, the more hostile the political environment becomes for the fast-growing social network.
Shutdown Band-Aid
Congress slapped the slightest of sticking plasters on its government funding problem last night, with the Senate passing a one-week government funding stopgap to pushback the deadline to fund the government to December 23. Negotiators have a week to avoid a shutdown and are tight-lipped about the state of talks, which would suggest that there is a decent chance of a deal being reached.
Thanks for reading in 2022
This is the last DC Diary of the year. The newsletter will be on a holiday hiatus for the next two weeks before returning at the start of January. Thank you for reading in 2022. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah and a joyous New Year!
What you should be reading today
Christopher Schaefer: Justin Smith is going global
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Why Don should make way for Ron
John Pietro: The US must punish Iran for aiding Russia
Michael Lind, Tablet: Labor’s lost
Shawn McCreesh, New York: DC was full of hot, happy gays celebrating the Respect for Marriage Act
Philip Shenon, Politico: The National Archives is about to release more JFK files. Here’s what to expect
Poll watch
President Biden job approval
Approve: 43.4 percent
Disapprove: 52.3 percent
Net approval: -8.9 (RCP average)
Americans’ view of the country’s most important issues (average of monthly 2022 results)
Government: 19 percent
Cost of living/inflation: 16 percent
Economy in general: 12 percent
Immigration: 6 percent
Unifying the country: 5 percent
Covid-19: 4 percent (Gallup)
