Trump the Colossus

No matter how much those historians who write our history despise him, they all will have to acknowledge that what Trump did from 2015 to 2029 was simply mind-blowing and unparalleled.

It is a passionate hobby of the Left, its media sycophants, and NeverTrumpers to blame all Republican election losses on Donald Trump. Doing so, however, fails to appreciate the sheer obstacles he has overcome since descending the escalator at Trump Tower in July 2015. Before Trump, America never had a pure businessman without any political or military experience win the presidency. Many have tried and failed spectacularly. Dismissing Trump as a loser also allows his enemies and opponents to denigrate his voters. To appreciate why calling Trump a colossus is justified, you need to step back and review what he has done and overcome.

First, look at the list of Republicans he defeated handily in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Republican Presidential primaries. The defeated are (in no particular order):

• Texas Governor Rick Perry

• Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

• Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal

• U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham

• New York Governor George Patake

• Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee

• U.S. Senator Rand Paul

• CEO Carly Fiorina

• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (x2)

• Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore

• Florida Governor Jeb Bush

• Dr. Ben Carson

• U.S. Senator Marco Rubio

• U.S. Senator Ted Cruz

• Ohio Governor John Kasich

• South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

• Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson

• CEO Vivek Ramaswamy

• North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum

• U.S. Senator Tim Scott

• Indiana Governor/VP Mike Pence

• Radio Host Larry Elder

• U.S. Representative Will Hurd

• Miami Mayor Francis Suarez

• U.S. Representative Joe Walsh

That list comprises twenty-six of some of the most accomplished and successful Republicans over the last two decades. Two-term governors who had strong records of getting popular policies and reforms enacted in their states. U.S. Senators well-known among the conservative base. Most of these candidates entered the presidential race with significant large donor relationships. Please take a moment to slowly go through the list again and think about how strong a group of candidates this list makes.

Based on the records I could find, in 2016, Trump and his PACs were outspent by his primary opponents and their PACs $651 million to $76 million. In 2024 so far, Trump again has been outspent by his opponents and their PACs $486 million to $75 million, with only Haley left in her quixotic drive to be the Kasich of 2024 who thought being the second last man standing actually meant something meaningful. In total, that means Trump has been grossly outspent $1.137 BILLION to $151 million, or by 7.5 times more money.

Neither their accomplishments nor money mattered. Trump skunked them all. Every single one of them.

Trump then went on to shock the world by defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016 to become President.

Of course, Trump, like most presidents, lost seats in the 2018 midterm elections, but the losses were historically small. 

As you know, in 2020, after earning more votes than any Republican in history, Trump barely lost to Joe Biden by 43,000 votes in three states, which was a slimmer win for Biden than Trump had over Clinton. As detailed by Mollie Hemingway in her book Rigged and Miranda Devine in her book Laptop from Hell, the 2020 election was far from free and fair (see below for more).

Then, in 2022, Republicans won back the U.S. House and came close to taking the U.S. Senate, with razor thin losses in Georgia and Nevada, which gave the Democrats a 51-49 majority. Trump gets blamed for the underperformance by Republicans in 2022, but he wasn’t on the ballot and his endorsements did well overall, with Ohio’s J.D. Vance being the top winner.

This year, Trump is currently leading Biden in both general election and most of the key swing state polls. 

All of these outcomes are stunning for a party flopping, brash billionaire real estate developer from New York City, but those outcomes alone aren’t what make Trump a colossus. He is a colossus because Trump has accomplished those things despite the nonstop onslaught he has faced from virtually every corner since July 2015. No other candidate or president has faced the level of hatred, lies, fraud, turncoats, and attacks that Trump has hit head on and survived…some would even say thrived. Here are just a few of the issues Trump has dealt with:

• Russia collusion hoax that started during the 2016 campaign and continued through John Durham’s report that finally revealed how much of a hoax it was;

• Alfa Bank hoax;

• Abuse of the FISA Court to spy on Trump and his supporters;

• The Charlottesville lie;

• The “Suckers and losers” lie;

• The “swallow bleach” lie;

• Structures set-up by Barack Obama, Biden, and their top officials to trap and undermine Trump and his administration from day one of his tenure;

• Deep state and administration false leaks;

• 90% negative media coverage for nine continuous years comprised mostly of stories based on hoaxes without one outlet ever admitting its coverage was false;

• Two baseless impeachments;

• Media and Deep State collusion to suppress Biden Family corruption;

• Pandemic intentionally caused by China to weaken Trump and hurt America;

• Radical and improper voting changes during an historic pandemic entirely tilted to help Democrats;

• Billions in outside spending by Mark Zuckerberg (Zuck Bucks), George Soros, and others aimed at improperly turning out Democrat voters;

• Unprecedented lawfare against him, his family, his political appointees, and others who supported his agenda;

• Collusion by social media companies that suppressed positive news about Trump and negative news about Biden; 

• Massive overprosecution and dissimilar treatment compared to left-wing rioters of largely peaceful Trump supporters who did little more than trespass on January 6, 2021;

• Deletion and suppression by congressional Democrats and Liz Cheney of likely exculpatory evidence showing Trump had no role in the January 6 riots; 

• Changing the law so one person with a flimsy rape claim can sue Trump followed by a left-wing judge withholding evidence from a left-wing jury on the flimsiness of accuser’s claim, which was funded by a left-wing billionaire; and

• Four criminal indictments on 91 counts for actions done by others such as Clinton, Biden, and scores of Democrats who were not prosecuted. 

Despite all of these items and more, Trump won in 2016, nearly won again in 2020, and now leads Biden with ten months to go before the November election. The simple fact is Trump is winning for two key reasons: (1) the sheer ineptitude of Biden and his administration married with Biden’s personal family corruption that is unparalleled in U.S history and (2) Americans now look back fondly on Trump’s presidency given the stark contrast it has with Biden’s presidency.

Specifically, under Trump, America had a booming economy that benefited ALL Americans, our southern border was as secure as it has ever been, and the world’s despots and dictators were held at bay as they feared Trump. Biden managed to undo all of those things in a manner that has harmed Americans economically (unless you own equities and piles of cash); substantially weakened our national sovereignty with over six million illegal immigrants, including terrorists; and resulted in wars and aggression against America and its allies across the globe (see Russia-Ukraine war; Israel-Gaza war; Yemen aggression against western targets; China aggression against Taiwan; North Korea belligerence; Iranian attacks on America; Venezuela aggression against Guyana; and catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan).

Whether you are a Trump fan or a hater, his continued survival and viability make him a political colossus unlike anyone we’ve ever seen. No other American politician save Ronald Reagan sends shivers down the spines of leaders—both allies and enemies—across the world like Trump does. Should he go on to win the November election and a second term to become the 47th President of the United States, no matter how much those historians who write our history despise him, they all will have to acknowledge that what Trump did from 2015 to 2029 was simply mind-blowing and unparalleled.

P.S. See this tweet from last week on true heroism and bravery.