For the past week in Chicago, I’ve had the unmistakable, persistent feeling of déjà vu, with Democrats’ unbridled enthusiasm a veritable mirror image of the festival atmosphere in Milwaukee last month, back when Joe Biden was still in the race and Donald Trump, having just survived an assassination attempt and surging in the polls, seemed assured of victory.
Now, of course, the split screen has flipped, with a triumphant Barack Obama joking about Trump’s, ahem, crowd size, while Trump is questioning rallygoers in North Carolina about whether he should fire his advisors for telling him to focus on policy over personal attacks. Naturally, that sardonic line has been sending jitters through his camp. “How many times has Trump said something as a joke, but eventually the joke turns into reality, or ended up having much more truth to it than folks originally believed?” one campaign source pointed out.
