One of the things that Democrats made much of, and others who let the media do their thinking for them were turned off by, were Trump's tweets. Well, more than once, the media frantically reported on Trump's "tweet storm" when, in reality, he had posted only one tweet that day. When Trump did it, one tweet became a tweet storm to the media and those who are dependent upon the media for their thought processes. Yet, look at the twists and the turns they have had do in order to ignore the genuine disturbances going on with Joe Biden.
The media ran with it when our sitting governor (Northam) unfairly called his opponent a racist, and after Northam won his college yearbook page suddenly comes to light with a guy in blackface and a guy in a Klan outfit on it. Northan initially stated "I forget which of those is me." Then the advisors rushed in, there was a media blackout, and the guy remains in office to this day. Just by this story, even if I omitted names, you know which party Northam belongs to. Regarding Trump's Tweets, if you paid attention to them, you would eventually see that they usually achieved their intended goal of provoking a response from the other side that disclosed their corruption, but as with the Biden issue and the Northam issue and all the other issues, our media....
Trump was under constant attack for his entire presidency. No other candidate in our lifetimes has been treated so badly. He has to defend himself somehow, and he couldn't go through normal channels. He misplayed his hand sometimes, but he was not a politician. As @John Brunner said, if he had been a "saleable" candidate, he would have been a part of the problem. The fact that he fought the takeover of the country made him a target for those behind the takeover and those gullible enough to believe the attacks on him.
I am neither assuming he won or lost. What I know for sure is that he didn't win in a landslide over the worst opponent in the history of American politics. That should tell Trump folks something and I hope they're paying attention. As for "they cheated", you hear that after every almost every presidential election of late.
As I recall, Reagan was a "salable" candidate who wasn't part of the problem but he had good political instincts.and got people to work with, not against, him to some extent (e.g., Tip O'Neill).
Yet, he made no attempt to change the progressive agenda. Trump did, and that was the reason for the attacks, not only from the Democrats but by his own party, the media, and the bureaucracy. He was a threat, whereas Reagan was not. Reagan made good speeches, but that was about the extent of his accomplishments.
Funny hubby and I were just talking about this tonight.Trump had too many enemies plus his own family sometimes made him look bad. I didn't agree with the 2 unconstitutuioanl laws he passed but I guess he had to deal sometimes.
Trump unnecessarily, perhaps stupidly, made enemies where it wasn't necessary. or helpful for his agenda. One example was John McCain. When Trump, who never served, said "I like people who weren't captured.", he did, for right or wrong, angered a lot of people, some of whom came after him with a vengeance (e.g., Meghan McCain).
By contrast, it could be argued that Trump inadvertently furthered the progressive agenda by setting the stage for a Biden Win.
I don't think so either but can't prove it; however, that is irrelevant now. The reality is that Biden's in office. It's that reality that needs to addressed and not some "what could have/should have been. If Trumps is going to run and WIN in 2024, he'll need to learn to keep the internal fire and agenda on boil but learn to display a cool, civil, presidential presence. At the heart of such behavior is self-control. Don't get on the campaign trail without it..
John McCain was a weasel for most of his political career. He was undercutting Trump behind his back and under the table before Trump said anything about him. The only good thing I know John McCain ever did was to save Alaska from Sarah Palin.