BY THE TIME FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD Trump left a Salem, N.H., high school auditorium on Jan. 28—his return to the campaign trail after an unusually sleepy start to his 2024 campaign—he had ricocheted offmany of his standbys: indulging conspiracy theories, nursing conservatives’ fears about race and gender, and offering an alternative reality to his successor’s record. The hour-long diatribe suggested President Joe Biden should have thrown his son Hunter under the bus, that members of the Taliban did not fight at night because they lacked “binoculars,” and that wind turbines knock planes out of the sky.
For a fragile frontrunner facing criticism over the shaky opening to his latest bid for the White House, Trump’s initial showing did little to calm the skittishness among Republicans and some former supporters that the candidate himself acknowledged.
“They said, ‘He’s not campaigning. Maybe he’s lost a step,’” Trump said, mocking his critics. “I am more angry now and I am more committed now than ever.”
Maybe, but words—even hyper exaggerated and errant ones—aren’t deeds. Trump’s drop by with the New Hampshire GOP’s annual meeting didn’t prove his critics wrong. Nor did his next stop, in South Carolina, where he unfurled a pack of high-wattage supporters at the state capitol but offered no more steady or reassuring a performance.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
A timely thriller for a mad, mad world
A’70s-style paranoid thriller grounded in the partisan polarization of today
Freshwater reserves
A troubling dip
An exuberant ode to human possibility
VERY RARELY DOES THE RIGHT MOVIE ARRIVE AT precisely the right time, at a moment when compassion is in short supply and the collective human imagination has come to feel shrunken and desiccated.
Broadcasting a crisis for the world to see
ON SEPT. 5, 1972, A 32-YEAR-OLD PRODUCER NAMED Geoffrey S. Mason was working in a control room for ABC Sports in Munich while 12 hostages, including several members of the Israeli Olympic delegation, were being held in a building nearby.
The Power of the Peer
WITH MENTAL-HEALTH CARE IN SHORT SUPPLY, CAN REGULAR PEOPLE FILL THE GAP?
QUEERING THE STORY
Luca Guadagnino directs Daniel Craig in an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' 1985 novella Queer
Shopping under the influence
LTK CO-FOUNDER AMBER VENZ BOX SAW THE FUTURE OF RETAIL. IT TOOK YEARS FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD TO CATCH UP
The Kingmaker
Elon Musk's partnership with the President-elect
Turkey's Erdogan plots his next power grab
RECEP TAYYIP Erdogan is a political survivor.
Why maiden names matter in the age of AI and identity
IN THE DIGITAL AGE, A NAME IS MORE THAN JUST A label. It's tied to our professional history and social media presence.
