Bluesky

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.

Democrats were, of course, more than justified in their anger. Trump’s speech was a long troll, complete with slurs and insults. Trump used his childish nickname for Senator Elizabeth Warren: “Pocahontas.” He made vicious demagogic attacks on trans people and undocumented immigrants. He repeatedly attacked former President Joe Biden, blaming him for the country’s current problems. (Again, this stands in contrast to Biden himself, who tried to turn the page from the Trump era and not refer to “the former guy.”)

Trump also repeatedly lied. To justify the actions of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Trump went on long tirade claiming that there were many people getting Social Security whose official ages were absurdly improbable—more than 150 years old in some cases. This lying claim, also made by Musk, has been repeatedly debunked—but that didn’t stop Trump from repeating it.

The flavor of Trump’s boasting and grandstanding can be gauged by these remarks:

Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden age of America. From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country. We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in four years or eight years—and we are just getting started. Thank you.

I return to this chamber tonight to report that America’s momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back. And the American dream is surging—bigger and better than ever before. The American dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again. Never been anything like it.

The presidential election of Nov. 5 was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades. We won all seven swing states, giving us an Electoral College victory of 312 votes.

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In truth, as many fact-checkers have pointed out, Trump’s electoral victory was tiny by historical standards.

It’s easy to complain about Trump’s boasting, his lies, and his threats (seen in his claim that Greenland will become part of America—one way or the other).

But Democrats would do well to consider the alternative. Currently, many powerful Democrats are adopting the strategy of trying to keep quiet and waiting for Trump to implode. That’s the implicit strategy of party leaders such as Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Democratic Party strategist James Carville argued for this strategy in The New York Times: “With no clear leader to voice our opposition and no control in any branch of government, it’s time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over and play dead.” Trump may be a lying monster, but he understands that politics is something you have to do 24–7. If Democrats follow Carville’s advice and keep playing dead, they will be dead.