This time last year, Kamala Harris was cruising towards the White House. (“Enthusiasm is off the charts”, as one headline declared.) Except, to anyone with a political antenna, she wasn’t. Her poll lead was modest, considering that polls tend to overstate Democratic support. She was still the shakiest of public performers. Her running mate Tim Walz dealt in a Regular Guy schtick that was going to wear thin in time. And lo, the pair lost a few months later. Their defeat was said to herald a “vibe shift” — a wider change in public sentiment — towards the right.
Sensing when something is too good to be true is a life skill. Well, the antenna is twitching again. Since Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill passed, and the EU signed up to his tariffs, even people I would not have expected have saluted his command of the domestic and world scene. “Like him or not, we have to admit . . . ” is the gist of these conversations. There is some truth here. There is also much that reeks of last August.
In all likelihood, this summer is Trump’s peak. Life for the US president goes downhill from here.