REVENGE

Axios reporter Isenstadt charts the dark paths that led to 45’s becoming 47.

Donald Trump’s election in 2024, writes Isenstadt, marks “the most remarkable political comeback in American history.” Trump left the White House in shame, failed coup attempt and all, with an administration shattered by resignations and assorted scandals. Brooding in his Mar-a-Lago exile, though, he continued the big lie that he’d won the election to keep his base engaged and his name in the news. With able lieutenants, he also focused on gaining total control of the Republican Party, which he “wanted to run…like a big-city political machine.” That project involved taking down his Republican opposition piece by piece, especially Ron DeSantis, who “was Trump but with all the stuff Republicans liked and without all the stuff many of them did not.” Trump was successful, just as he was in reducing former allies who in his mind had become his enemies, such as Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley, who, after DeSantis crashed and burned, “had become the favorite of Republican establishment donors who were determined to stop Trump.” It’s worth noting that none of those enemies plays a role in the MAGA administration. Isenstadt delivers news, such as Trump’s having seriously considered Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo for his vice president before selecting JD Vance, who had been critical of Trump in the past. No problem, writes Isenstadt: “Trump was always amenable to former detractors who wanted to kiss the ring.” Trump was enraged when Kamala Harris took Joe Biden’s place in the race against him, disparaging her in racist and sexist terms, but then again, in Isenstadt’s telling, Trump is always enraged about one thing or another, which was manifest from day 1 of his second term, when “his quest for revenge appeared underway.”

A sturdy account of how we got where we are, vindictive chaos leading the way.