"Trump is able to turn bullets into gold": Experts on MAGA's "mythology of Trump the superman"

For more than nine years, I have been chronicling and warning about the Age of Trump and the harm it has and will continue to do to American democracy and society. But these last three weeks, the surreal nature of the Age of Trump and its never-ending story—one where the next chapter begins with Donald Trump and the Republican fascists winning the 2024 election and then ending multiracial pluralistic democracy— had twists and turns that are (almost) unbelievable even by the standards of the Trump era.

Donald Trump destroyed President Biden in their first debate. Trump’s victory was so total and complete that senior leaders in the Democratic Party are now convinced that Biden will not be able to win the 2024 election and must be replaced.

The right-wing extremist justices on the Supreme Court then decided that Trump is a de facto king who is above the law. Donald Trump, and his Republican fascist successors, now have the power to order their political and personal enemies killed without consequence. In a democracy, no person should possess such power.

The following week, Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was wounded by a bullet that hit his ear. Instead of cowering, Trump rose from the ground, the side of his face covered in blood, defiant, and pumped his fist in the air while saying “Fight! Fight! Fight!” The image is iconic and may win Donald Trump the presidency for a second time.

Because the story that is the Age of Trump is so badly written and obvious, the assassination attempt against Trump took place two days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. The convention is Trump’s coronation. He will be greeted by rapturous applause, screams, tears, and howls for a man who is viewed like a type of martyr, Lazarus, and immortal unstoppable conquering hero by the thousands of people in attendance at the the Fiserv Forum. I would not be surprised at all if some of the attendees fainted, real or pretend, when Donald Trump accepts the party's nomination on Thursday night.

In a chilling preview of what will come next, on Monday, delegates at the Republican National Convention were raising their firsts in unity and yelling “Fight! Fight! Fight!” like their hero Donald Trump did on Saturday. The so-called “civility” and “turning down the temperature” that the Republicans supposedly embraced in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Saturday have already been shown to be a transparent camouflage and attempt to distract and confuse the mainstream news media and the Democrats. For anyone with even a passing knowledge of twentieth century history, the images from the Republican Convention are terrifying.

Always the showman with a keen eye for the dramatic, on Monday, Donald Trump announced that Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance of “Hillbilly Elegy” fame (or infamy depending on one’s opinion of his autobiographical book and movie) will be his vice presidential running mate.

In another moment of rising action and a plot “twist” and non-surprise, also on Monday, Judge Cannon threw out Donald Trump’s trial in Florida for stealing classified documents. Experts quickly attacked her decision as specious and not likely to stand on appeal. Cannon was appointed by Donald Trump. She is repaying that debt with an eye on the United States Supreme Court. Cannon truly is “Trump’s judge.”

In an attempt to better navigate the seemingly unending Age of Trump, I recently spoke with a range of experts about the country’s democracy crisis, where we are in this story, and what may happen next with the 2024 election and America’s political life.

Jason Van Tatenhove served as the national media director for the Oath Keepers. He documented his experiences with the Oath Keepers in his book "The Perils of Extremism: How I Left the Oath Keepers and Why We Should be Concerned about a Future Civil War." 

The last two weeks have been a series of momentous and disastrous events. The assassination attempt on former President Trump on July 13, 2024, where shots were fired at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, has undoubtedly shifted the political landscape, galvanizing his base and potentially cementing his campaign. The images captured this weekend will become some of those that define our generation. The power of the pictures alone, I think, has already won the election for the former president. Meanwhile, the Biden debate fallout and recent SCOTUS decisions have only added to the turmoil.

Navigating this period as a journalist and sole parent feels like being a trapeze artist without a net—each day teetering on the edge of madness. In some ways, I feel like a conspiracy junkie who has relapsed, mainlining paranoia and dread. The threats are real enough. Trump has previously stated that he intends to go after and possibly round up those he deems his enemies, including journalists, the January 6 committee, and certain key witnesses. That puts me squarely on that list (albeit lower in importance). As much as I want to dismiss the whisperings, I am getting from some Washington insiders as crazy conspiracy fodder, history shows us that when authoritarians get into power, things don’t go well for authors, journalists, and intellectuals.

While I am not packing up and heading toward the Canadian border just yet, I am currently working on an article researching the processes of seeking political asylum, just in case. Hopefully, the recent toning down of rhetoric across partisan lines from both the Biden and Trump camps will firm up and set back into the cement of our national foundations, and we can return to a sense of normalcy. But recent current events make me think that might be a Rocky Mountain high-pipe dream.

We are in a critical chapter of what can be called the Age of Trump, a time marked by unprecedented political divisions and challenges to democratic norms. The media and political class have often underestimated Trump's resilience and the loyalty of his base, leading to repeated miscalculations about his political demise.

Looking ahead, the next two months leading to the election will be crucial. We may witness further polarizing events, a GOP convention that attempts to solidify Trump's position, and perhaps more significant challenges to our democratic institutions.

Katherine Stewart is the author of “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism."

The recent attempt on Trump’s life, by what appears to have been a young male gun enthusiast, is abhorrent and has been rightly condemned by people across the political divide. But we should not lose sight of the fact that a win for the GOP would be even more impactful than it was the last time. That’s not just scaremongering. This time there’s a well-organized cadre of professionals behind Trump's campaign and behind Project 2025. The people behind Project 2025 have thought through how to best exploit the next presidency to advance their agenda.

For one, this could mean a huge setback for national security. Our NATO allies are already preparing for what they see as a worst-case scenario. The GOP front-runner has already demonstrated his inability to secure state secrets, which puts our nation at risk. Replacing competent and experienced civil servants with loyalists, as the Project 2025 leaders intend to do, is not a recipe for national strength.

Although the Republican Party touts itself as the party of “fiscal responsibility,” the implementation of Project 2025 would undermine the economic security of most working Americans, with tax cuts for the rich, deregulation at the expense of worker safety, and the potential for massive levels of corruption.

And finally, we have to consider the terrifying impact on the courts and on our civil rights, the further harm to our system of education, and the reversal of even more of women’s rights.

As for the news media, the question of fitness for office shows double standards at play. Although the question of age for any candidate for political office is indeed a legitimate topic of coverage, when it comes to Joe Biden the obsessive focus on that issue comes at the expense of coverage of his actual performance as president and that of his teams. Meanwhile, is someone with a criminal record including multiple felony convictions fit for office? Is someone facing additional felony charges, who has been found liable for fraud and sexual abuse, who lies consistently, are they fit for office? Many journalists have raised those questions, but it’s striking that the coverage of the fitness question focuses overwhelmingly on the Democratic candidate.

Jared Yates Sexton is a journalist and author of the book "The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis."

The state of American politics at the moment is a mixture of despair, delusion, and unbridled panic. Biden's debate performance was halting. Disturbing. Because I believe vulnerable communities and democracy as a whole deserve a robust defense, I called for him to step aside the very next morning. The problem, of course, is that this isn't a sure-fire solution and, if it was going to happen, it needed to happen fast. If the party was going to pressure him to step aside, it needed to happen fast and uniformly. Instead, we have seen weeks now of foot-dragging, leaking, and piecemeal intraparty fighting. It is the worst possible thing that could have happened given the present circumstances, including the trajectory of the country, the Court's authoritarian bent, and what it is that we are facing going forward. But it is, and has been from the start, defined by panic and the coping mechanisms that accompany panic. So, I don't feel great.

The unfortunate truth is that we are in the stage of Trumpism in which the system has not only enabled him but is now actively changing itself to better fit him. Everything that we are experiencing right now is a body that is actively devouring itself and changing into another form that, for anyone who actually studies this stuff, understands is an authoritarian form. It's what we've been telling people for YEARS now. And to be in the thick of it, without much in the way of denial left, is startling for those who wanted to deny it all along.

The media and political class are incapable of wrestling with their own actions and place in all of this. They have continued to enjoy the privileges given to them by this deformed and intentionally unequal system, so their concepts of politics and reality are absolutely skewed in this direction. To actually understand what is happening they would have to reappraise not only themselves but the entire concept of the world that has brought them to this point. There's a lot of incentive not to do so. In fact, all the incentives save for grasping reality, which would also mean risking the privilege they've been given.

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We're teetering on the brink of something very large and very damning. I have seen nothing from the Democratic Party that gives me confidence they can meet this challenge. The Biden situation is just a very, very loud example of this. All of the momentum is with the right and their wealthy donors. If the 2024 Election somehow works out in a way that Trump is denied, it will happen because the people rejected him, not because the Democratic Party defeated him. In that case, it will require mass movements that force the party to change. If that doesn't happen, we're in for some very, very hard times.

Hal Brown is a clinical social worker and was one of the first members of the Duty to Warn group. He has extensive expertise in working with multiple personality disorder (now called dissociative identity disorder).

After the debate, the media trampled over each other as if they were trying to get to the scene of a massive train wreck. Purported wisdom from George Clooney, for example, was covered as if he is an esteemed tenured professor of American presidential history. The media engaged in a feeding frenzy like lions having downed a hapless gazelle. The New York Times editorial board was downright salivating over what they saw as Biden's carcass. Fast forward to today and we have photos of a literally bleeding Trump with his fist raised in defiance being hawked on trading cards or emblazoned on t-shirts.

A Trump campaign official posted a photo of Trump with his fist raised which, by chance, had an America flag in the background. I anticipate that the most heroic seeming of these photos will be on the jumbo screens at the convention so the mythology of Trump the superman will again be on national TV.

Begrudgingly I give Trump credit for being a consummate showman. As soon as he realized he wasn't seriously injured he seized the moment. For a man who supposedly doesn't sincerely believe in God, Trump is shamelessly thanking God for saving him. If I was a cartoonist, I'd draw a picture of him with the raised right clenched fist and his left hand holding a donation can. This is sure to bring in a haul of money that would make his mugshot donations look like a pittance.

It is a bitter irony that sometimes it seems like Biden can't catch a break while Trump is able to turn bullets into gold. Now I am reading that the entire Biden campaign strategy has been knocked off its pins. The Washington Post reported that a massive negative ad buy planned to be aired during the Republican convention has been scrapped.

President Biden's team must be beside themselves as they try to determine how to attack a candidate who is so blatantly lying, saying that it was Biden who somehow instigated the assassination attempt.