MIAMI — Homeless vagrants wander the streets, beg for change, and sleep in storefronts surrounding the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts in downtown Miami. A massive billboard touts the February 2020 arrival of Hamilton, presented by Bank of America, another massive corporation going out of its way to embrace "woke capitalism" by cutting ties with immigrant detention centers and private prisons. Luxury hotels line the streets advertising bottomless mimosa brunches. A Ferrari dealership boasts its unattainable wares. Meanwhile, a stage full of presidential candidates (and one best-selling guru) compete to agree most forcefully with the premise that anyone who steps foot on American soil should be allowed to stay permanently, and be eligible for taxpayer-funded health care — the sorts of policies that have fueled an anti-establishment backlash throughout Europe. They spoke of an "existential threat" to the planet (climate change) that will require the implementation of policies that have sparked a popular revolt in France.
And people still can't fathom how Donald Trump got elected.
Trump's opponents can only hope Winston Churchill's (slightly paraphrased) adage about Americans holds true for today's Democrats. They'll get the job done, after they've tried everything else. Judging by the past two nights in Miami, these candidates appear intent on exhausting every alternative by the time a nominee is ultimately chosen. But what then?
Trump supporters, including the president himself, think they have a pretty good idea. Democrats will do everything in their power to lose, and do precisely that. They'll defy all the pundits's predictions and humiliate themselves once again. That is why, just minutes into the second debate on Thursday, the president effectively called the 2020 election for himself.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1144419410729242625
There's still a long way to go until Election Day, but this week's display from the competition does not inspire much confidence that a president who has repeatedly defied the odds won't prove himself right yet again.