It is tempting, when you look back at the raucous, joyous scenes from last week’s Republican National Convention, to assume that Donald Trump is stronger than ever.
This is not the case.

The last insane, chaotic, stupid month in American politics has obscured a simple, basic truth:
Trump is a deeply unpopular,
eminently beatable politician.

He is a man that most Americans do not like and do not want to vote for.
And he is just as unpopular now as he was six months ago,
or four years ago,
or eight years ago.
If you run a reasonably competent person against him without significant flaws, you have a more than reasonable chance of winning.

The next three months in American politics will undoubtedly be chaotic, and probably very aggravating.
But Democrats are now in a significantly better position than they were on Sunday morning.

They can run an energetic, positive campaign that highlights the numerous threats that Trump poses to the country.
They can do this with Harris,
who will be a perfect contrast to Trump, and an eminently qualified vice presidential nominee.

For most of the last year, Democrats could not adequately prosecute the case against Trump because their leader and presumptive nominee was simply not capable of it.
Four years ago, Biden could shut down Trump
—by literally telling him to “shut up.”
That Biden is gone, and his own deterioration made it difficult, or impossible, to draw a sharp contrast.
Trump is also old and deranged
—but Biden was not the messenger for that argument, as he was showing more signs of aging than his opponent.
What doesn’t get said enough
—and here I agree with Team Biden’s whining about the press coverage
—is that Trump and Biden are weak in some of the same ways.
Trump is also really old!
He also struggles to speak coherently and isn’t great on stairs!
Against any other candidate, Trump’s diminishing abilities will be clear.
His unpopularity is overwhelming.
He wouldn’t stand a chance.
newrepublic.com/article/184082