Americans have had their fun electing a clown flapping around in huge shoes he can't fill, honking incessantly on his Twitter horn, the little car of his administration spilling forth far too many buffoons, zanies and felony indictments. His greasepaint now looks nothing but greasy, his fright wig is too frightful. His antics cause the tightrope walkers of foreign policy to totter, the trapeze artists of domestic policy to lose their grip, and he's scaring the children in the ringside seats, particularly the millennial voters. (Alarming their suburban moms as well.) He's chasing the elephants out of the big top. Two notable Republican pachyderms — General Colin Powell and John Kasich, the former Ohio governor and erstwhile Trump primary opponent — wandered over to perform at the Democratic National Convention.
The rubes are getting wise to the ballyhoo. They've guessed the sideshow games of chance are fixed, like the one where you take off your facemask and hope to win Covid immunity. The crowd is turning ugly. The Maga calliope is out of tune with the times. The circus had better leave town.
So why does Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential race feel somehow one prefix short of inevitable?
