Donald Trump’s Increasingly Apocalyptic Campaign

Last month, I wondered if Donald Trump had jumped the shark.

“Jump the Shark,” you may recall, is an idiom referring to that moment when a TV show, brand or project has peaked and then gradually declines toward irrelevance.

Turns out, it may be worse than that.

As the 2024 election has drawn closer, Donald Trump’s rhetoric has increasingly darkened, amplifying insults, threats and false claims in his campaign speeches. At his rallies, he has called for using police violence as a tool to deter crime, repeatedly attacked Kamala Harris’ mental fitness, and promised to arrest political foes. His tone has become more apocalyptic, framing the election as a battle between good and evil, fearmongering about the future of America, and predictions of WWIII breaking out if his opponent prevails.

Donald Trump hasn’t “jumped the shark.” He has mutated into something demonic, desecrating all that is good, noble and decent solely to satisfy his own emotional needs.

It’s the type of tailspin one goes through when confronted by their worst fear, which, in Trump’s case, is losing. Losing is a reality he is incapable of accepting. It doesn’t matter that the race remains a dead heat in the states that matter. His language evokes the desperation of someone willing to say or do anything to stem the tide of some perceived slide into an abyss.

With this comes a delusion among voters that helps buoy Trump’s campaign prospects. Presidential candidates make big promises. But presidents are not kings. They can’t keep those promises without the help of Congress any more than they can control the economic forces that determine the price of eggs or a gallon of gas. Yet, presidents get blamed for higher grocery prices even though they’re hardly a