After the July 13 shooting at a Trump rally, there was a sudden shift in the conversation. Trump was sending out emails touting “unity” and “kindness,” maybe because his handlers thought it would be a good look.

But Trump’s not about to give up his Tough Guy™ persona.

During a rally in Minnesota over the weekend, Trump put the kibosh on any discussion of him changing his stripes:

“I want to be nice. They all say, ‘I think he’s changed. I think he’s changed since two weeks ago. Something affected him.’ No, I haven’t changed. Maybe I’ve gotten worse, actually. Because I get angry at the incompetence that I witness every single day.”

The thing is, using a superlative like “worse” is acknowledging that he was already bad.

That’s not to say he didn’t cruise for a while on that unity thing first. Many of his supporters were suggesting that the fact he didn’t die was a sign of the Hand of Providence at work. Trump ate that up, telling attendees at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee earlier this month that he had God on his side.

And he took the “come together moment to a whole new level, saying the same night “I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”

Of course, nowhere NEAR “half of America” wants Trump as president. In 2020, less than 29 percent of the voting age population cast a ballot for Donald Trump. It’s a common mistake to conflate people who voted with overall population. Only 78 percent of America was even eligible to vote, and only about 75 percent of THOSE people actually registered.

But Trump has made no secret that he does indeed want to govern according to the wishes of what he calls “half” the country.

And admitting that he’s gotten “worse” over time just means that the danger of electing him again is even greater than it was all the way back in 2016, because he got progressively worse during his first term than he was at the beginning.

One thing is certain. Trump doesn’t think much of democracy at all. With his recent comments to a Christian summit that he was going to “fix” it so they didn’t have to vote anymore after this election, I think he’s finally said something that everyone can believe: He’s gotten worse.

“No, I haven't changed. Maybe I've gotten worse.”

Trump is still an angry old man desperate to return to power so he can punish his enemies and political rivals. pic.twitter.com/7ZDGV5AQMB

— American Bridge 21st Century (@American_Bridge) July 28, 2024