Here’s hoping Trump doesn’t get the last laugh

Every time I think Donald Trump has gone too far, every time I think he has finally done himself in, I’ve been wrong. Every single time.

Now, in a long-winded, rambling, low-energy speech, he tells us he’s running again for president — and I’m tempted to say, there’s no way he can win. Yes, President Biden is unpopular, but Trump is even more unpopular. And no one energizes the Democratic base the way Trump does.

Even though a lot of Republicans are blaming him for the GOP’s horrible showing in the midterms and wanted him to hop on his crazy train and just go away, I wasn’t getting my hopes up.  

I thought he was done in 2015 when he was running for president and said that John McCain, who spent five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, was “not a war hero” because “I like people who weren’t captured.”

I thought decency would prevail when Trump stood on stage at a political rally and started shaking all over — mocking a journalist with a congenital condition affecting the joints, a journalist Trump deemed unfriendly to him. 

I thought he crossed the Rubicon when he was caught on a hot mic saying famous men get away with a whole lot when it comes to women: “You can do anything. Grab ’em by the [you-know-what].”  

But he survived all of it. What would have brought down a mere mortal were merely spitballs tossed at a battleship, the U.S.S. Donald J. Trump.

Now, with the midterms in our rearview mirror — with no red wave, thanks largely to Trump-endorsed candidates who told voters that Trump was right, the 2020 election really was stolen — even a lot of conservatives are saying it’s time for Trump to go.

The National Review posted an editorial right after his speech on Tuesday night with a headline that simply said, “No” — and under that one word, “Trump is unworthy of the Republican nomination.”

His old pal Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post ran a single line at the bottom of its front page that said, “Florida man makes announcement.” Florida man? Really?

Even a few of Trump’s friends at Fox News aren’t slobbering over him the way they used to.  One of his die-hard Fox fans, Laura Ingraham, seemed to be taking a not-so-subtle shot at him when she said, “The populist movement is about ideas. It’s not about any one person. If the voters conclude that you’re putting your own ego or your own grudges ahead of what’s good for the country, they’re going to look elsewhere, period.”

After the midterm fiasco, the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial with a headline that said, “Trump Is the Republican Party’s Biggest Loser.”  

Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and Fox News. Sounds like he’s sending Trump a message: Get lost! 

But, as Maureen Dowd, one of Trump’s many detractors at the New York Times, put it, “It’s not hard to imagine that this revolt against the revolting Trump will die down in a few days and they’ll all be back behind this person that they blame for their current convulsions.”

She may be right. But something feels different this time with Trump; he’s been sounding more unraveled than usual. I know, that’s saying a lot.

He fired a shot across the bow of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who may run against him for the GOP nomination in 2024, posting this on social media: “If he did run, I will tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering. I know more about him than anyone other than perhaps his wife, who is really running his campaign.” 

And about Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who also may decide to run for president against Trump, he posted on his Truth Social platform something a kid in junior high might say: “Young Kin (now that’s an interesting take. Sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?) in Virginia couldn’t have won without me.” 

When it became apparent that Blake Masters, the GOP candidate he backed for the Senate in Arizona had lost, Trump again took to social media, this time demanding that, “A NEW ELECTION MUST BE CALLED FOR IMMEDIATELY!” 

Right after the GOP midterm debacle, Dan Henninger at the Wall Street Journal wrote that, “If Mr. Trump announces next week that he’s running again, the 2024 presidential election ends that day. It guarantees a wipeout for Republicans.”

And Scott Jennings, a former deputy to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), tweeted: “How could you look at these [midterm] results tonight and conclude Trump has any chance of winning a national election in 2024?”

Except that every time the pundits have written Donald Trump’s political obituary he has let them know that reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Mark Twain, who wrote those words, survived his supposed demise and had the last laugh. I’m thinking the same may be true of Donald Trump.

Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He was a correspondent with HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” for 22 years and previously worked as a reporter for CBS News and as an analyst for Fox News. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his Substack page. Follow him on Twitter @BernardGoldberg.