Jonathan Last: “What is Donald Trump’s incentive structure right now? The hierarchy pretty obviously goes something like this:
- Win the election.
- Avoid blame for losing the election.
- Bind his voters more tightly to his own person.
- Establish a framework for his next venture.
“You will note that ‘Protecting Congressional Republicans’ is not on that list.”
“It is becoming clear—even to Trump—that barring extreme outside events, his primary goal is off the table. While it remains possible that some event intercede—a meteor strike, a shooting war, a health crisis—there is nothing that Trump himself can really do to change the outcome of the election. And so as you move down Trump’s incentive structure, he has pivoted to items 2, 3, and 4.”
“In furtherance of those goals, we should expect Trump to be more erratic and outlandish, more openly racist, and to flirt even more openly with outright delegitimization of the election.”
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