When marketing/advertising veteran Donny Deutsch appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday, June 26, the centrist Democrat had a lot to say about what President Donald Trump will do if he loses to former Vice President Joe Biden in November. Deutsch theorized that Trump would find a way to “monetize” a loss, and he made an excellent point. If Biden is sworn in as president of the United States in January 2021, it won’t be the end of Trump’s political career — and Americans would still have the misfortune of being subjected to his political views on a daily basis.
The 62-year-old Deutsch, speaking to a panel that ranged from “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson and Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire, stressed that losing to Biden could prove quite profitable for Trump. Painting himself as a victim, Deutsch asserted, Trump could form some type of organization, charge a registration fee and make millions of dollars from his hardcore MAGA base and their sense of grievance.
“The one thing he’s never been able to do with the presidency that he wants is monetize it,” Deutsch explained. “Imagine if Trump loses or drops the mic — and out of those 60 million people who voted for him, 6 million join the Trump Revolutionary Party and the Trump Revolutionary Network at $6.99 a month — and he makes $600 million a year. It’s a way for him to come out and finally monetize this thing. And don’t think he won’t say to himself, ‘I’m still the president of a third of this country, but I’m going to monetize it.’ Look for the Trump Revolutionary Network: $6.99 a month. That’s Trump’s drop-the-mic moment. It’s not that crazy.”
Millions of Americans — from liberals, progressives and Democratic centrists to Never Trump conservatives — are sick to death of Trump’s presidency and would be glad to see him out of the White House. But vacating the White House wouldn’t necessarily mean that Trump was abandoning politics. Trump panders to the lunatic fringe of U.S. politics, but his hardcore MAGA supporters are still true believers. And Trump’s opportunities to monetize his twisted political brand go beyond the things that Deutsch astutely described on “Morning Joe.”
Trump now has a whopping 82.4 million followers on Twitter, and his incessant tweeting won’t end if he loses to Biden in November. Moreover, it is entirely possible that Fox News would use him in some respect if he were voted out of office, perhaps giving Trump his own show and paying him a fortune to host it. It isn’t hard to imagine a Trump show as part of the Fox News wingnut lineup that also includes Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and others.
When Barack Obama defeated Sen. John McCain in the 2008 election, the U.S. didn’t hear the last of McCain’s running mate, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — quite the contrary. Palin successfully used that defeat to appeal to a sense of right-wing white grievance and grew her brand considerably during the Obama years. Trump, similarly, will no doubt have an abundance of opportunities in the right-wing media — from Fox News to AM talk radio — if he loses the election to Biden.
Even if the words “President Joe Biden” are used in 2021, it won’t be the end of Trump’s political career — unfortunately for the United States and the rest of the world.