Donald Trump's Never-ending, Hypnotic Campaign

The president understands that politics never stops. Democrats should do the same.

For all his worldly success, including twice winning the presidency, Donald Trump remains sour and aggrieved. Among the rare occasions when he shows any pleasure in life are when he’s on the campaign trail, holding hours-long rallies before adoring MAGA fans. Suddenly, the normally somnolent Trump jolts into life like a rock star energized by the enthusiasm of his fans, thrilled at being able to riff off the top of his head, insult his political foes, and boast of his own accomplishments.

Such is Trump’s delight in holding rallies that in his first term he remained on the road even after he won, when there was no electoral advantage to be had. This is a mark of not just of the size of Trump’s ego but also his understanding that politics never stops—and that in order to achieve lasting control over a political coalition and a country, you have to always be campaigning, hustling and selling your message, getting the faithful energized.

Just as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels taught the necessity of a permanent revolution, Trump is a practitioner of the permanent campaign, always finding ways to communicate with his grassroots army whether by social media or rallies. This is a sharp contrast with Democrats such as Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who, after political victory, turned down the political temperature by reaching out to Republicans to make bipartisan compromises and to demobilize their own activist base (as Obama notably did by decommissioning the incredibly effective political machine he had built up that gave him his landslide victory in 2008).

Trump’s commitment to the permanent campaign was on full view tonight in his first address to Congress. Although technically not a State of the Union address, this first speech by a new administration has often followed the pattern of that venerable format, with a strong emphasis on declarations of national unity and attempts to find common ground with the opposing party.

Trump categorically rejected the national unity message. Instead, he offered a long tirade that was in effect a rally, with the GOP members of Congress taking the place of his MAGA fan base and Democrats struggling to find a way to express their outrage. Many Democrats walked out before the speech was over; others turned their backs on Trump; some booed and yelled. One Democratic lawmaker, Representative Al Green of Texas, was forcibly ejected after his loud protests.