Andrew Jackson was an outspoken populist with, let us say rough edges, who became president and changed the whole game.

Founded the Democrat Party in fact.

Ironically today’s Democrat Party is the sort of entrenched elites Jackson fought against and won, thereby empowering the common man. (Though I suppose that can be argued.)

We’re now in the midst of another major realignment as in Jackson’s time.

We’ve been to this rodeo before.

On the whole I agree with you on many things as well as the overall situation and relative importance (or lack thereof) of Trump himself. However I have to disagree with:

Trump is a “break glass in case of emergency” sort of candidate. You can’t build something with that, and certainly not if you have to do it repeatedly.

Trump has built more than a few “somethings”, even if we can agree they are not adequate in and of themselves. But things such as the Abraham Accords and US Space Force (which at present mostly exists as a sinecure and more bloat on government but should be important for the future development of the US and humanity) are worth noting. Granted these are largely foundations to be sure, but they are foundations built and that can be built on, and that is worth noting. Especially given how many go on about how things like the Israel conflict is some kind of unchanging, ancient, intractable problem that we have to appease the Palestinian Authority to change.

Trump is no God-Emperor but I an loathe to sell him short any more than overselling him.

I believe you are responding to Brian E, not me.

Trump is Trump. For better or worse, sometimes unlikely individuals do change history.

America is undergoing another huge realignment and this is what those look like.
____________________________

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

–Bob Dylan, “The Times They’re A-Changing”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dVNqkqrygQ

The guy who advocated jailing climate science skeptics isn’t much of a libertarian… then again most libertarians consider most libertarians to not be much of a libertarian.

At the Instapundit, Green Reynolds linked to a Richard Fernandez tweet pointing out that, while Trump was being portrayed as weak in the new Dem offensive, he was actually working behind the scenes to change the electoral landscape. RFK Jr. says that he reached out to Harris also but she and her team wouldn’t even talk to him.

For this to work, the libertarian side has to believe RFKjr will have an influence on a policy area. This may all be a pipe dream, but I assume Weinstein has a certain following. If he and others get behind the notion, it can affect the election, IMO.

Whether it’s Vance or DeSantis or someone waiting in the wings to solidify the gains of the populist America First movement and it becomes enduring or fades under the pressure of the legacy Republicans will be played out in the coming years.

But at least we’ve had a reprieve from the fundamental transformation Obama promised– and the radical goals of the left are coming into focus.

I’d be happier about this were it not that the traditional Democrats and the GOPe are the one who got us to where we are today; letting them have it back just puts us there again in a few years.

Trump is a “break glass in case of emergency” sort of candidate. You can’t build something with that, and certainly not if you have to do it repeatedly. What you can do is use the breathing space to prepare for the next phase. People who are unhappy with how it’s been going for the last thirty years need to take the time to do this and not just think that electing Trump fixes anything. It doesn’t.

Weinstein validates how extreme the current iteration of the Democrat party is and how a coalition of traditional liberal Democrat, libertarian and Conservatives may be the only path forward to reclaim the country:

I think this is absolutely Monumental because I think we are in a novel moment in American political history where many of us who hold different positions on the political Spectrum have different priorities with respect to policy are finding that none of our differences matter in light of the Jeopardy that the that the Republic is in and so what he is effectively doing here is he is saying those differences aren’t going away but they’re just simply secondary. He is both structurally, by withdrawing from certain ballots and not others, he is emboldening a movement that is more widely recognizing that those differences have to be put aside until the main job is done and he’s giving himself an important voice in that discussion, so I was very interested in the way he navigated the idea. This was not a simple endorsement of Trump this was an endorsement of retaking the White House and using that position to restore the Republic to its proper course…

The GOPe/Dem leftists recognize this potential. Vance has shown Trump_Vance is really interested in blue collar/middle class Americans in a way that the old GOPe/cheap labor Republicans have always eschewed.

Now if Trump finds a significant role for a liberal Democrat, where our interests align, the center left/libertarian may join Trump. Talk about expanding the coalition. The coalition may only last this term– which is what you would expect. The traditional Democrats can begin claiming their party, and the Republican party will battle whether the populist conservative America First movement has power post Trump or the old guard GOPe retains it’s “rightful” legacy position.

“Threat to The Republic” – Reaction to RFK Jr. Dropping Out + Endorsing Donald Trump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F746FWYIp34