'Not what drew them to the cult': Analyst sees 'sleepy and docile' Trump losing MAGA base

Donald Trump's self-promoted aura of invincibility has taken a big hit with his drowsy appearances in a New York courtroom for his criminal trial, an analyst said Tuesday.

The former president has been ordered by Justice Juan Merchan to attend every day of the trial and has slapped him with a gag order prohibiting him from attacking witnesses in the case, and courtroom observers have noticed him repeatedly dozing off — making the would-be strongman the butt of jokes and prompting ridiculous denials from him, wrote Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin.

"All jokes aside, Trump’s denial is par for a narcissist’s course," Rubin wrote. "He can admit no weakness. He expects his base to freakishly admire his physique(!). And, most important, he and his followers have grounded his 2024 campaign on the myth that President [Joe] Biden (who bikes, dashes off to war zones and works out five times a week, according to his doctor) is the enfeebled one.

"One wonders whether Trump’s attacks on Biden’s aging are yet another example of habitual projection.'"

Trump demands that his followers reject what they see and believe whatever he tells them, but even his supporters must have noticed how weak and diminished he has appeared in court, Rubin wrote.

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"The trial is aggravating Trump’s lifelong fear of humiliation and his insistence on being the toughest bully on the block," Rubin wrote. "Any objective observer would acknowledge that things have not been going his way, to put it mildly."

The judge has held him in contempt and threatened him with jail, while his former friends and employees have delivered devastating and embarrassing testimony that has bolstered the prosecution's case. Rubin said he must realize on some level the trial isn't helping his re-election chances.

"Trump cannot afford to lose the aura of power, control and defiance he wields to keep his supporters entranced," she wrote. "A weak, sleepy and docile Trump is not what drew them to the cult. You can understand why Trump might prefer to saw logs than to confront his worst nightmare."