THE CLOCK STARTED TICKING on Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign last year, when prosecutors announced dozens of criminal charges against him. With each new allegation-mishandling classified documents, election fraud, racketeering-it became clear that Trump's campaign for a second term would unfold in a time crunch. He was deeply unpopular, holed up at Mar-a-Lago, and venting on Truth Social because Twitter had banned him. Now, he was applying for a job that voters had already fired him from, and he had to somehow get it back before courts could rule against him.
Today, the safety of the Oval Office looks like Trump's to lose. Joe Biden is polling worse than any modern president at this stage, weakened by doubts about his age and stewardship of the economy. Trump didn't even bother to debate his challengers in the GOP primary and steamrollered them anyway en route to the nomination. He's edging out Biden in national polling averages and leading him comfortably in swing states. And in March, a New York Times-Siena College poll suggested that voters have grown less certain that Trump committed federal offenses. As he scampers to the finish line, these changing attitudes toward what makes him deeply abnormal for a presidential candidatehis alleged crimes-are the latest sign of how normalized he's become.
This story is from the March 11-24, 2024 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 11-24, 2024 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Reality Check
Joseph O'Neill's realist novel embodies the best and worst of the genre.
An Atlas Who Can't Carry
J.Lo's AI-friendly flick flattens its own world.
Billie Doesn't Have to Do It All
The singer's gleefully disorienting third album doesn't hit every note it reaches for.
A Hollywood Family's Grudges
In Griffin Dunne's memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club-about growing up the son of Dominick Dunne and the nephew of John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion-both acid and names are dropped.
Quite the Tomato
A summer appetizer from a seriously ambitious restaurant.
This Cooking Can't Be Pinned Down
Theodora's menu is all over the map. That's what makes it great.
Answered Prayers
Brooklynites Cristiana Peña and Nick Porter had a dream to live in an old church upstate.
INDUSTRY Goes for Broke
With a new Sunday-night time slot and Game of Thrones's Kit Harington co-starring, can this buzzy GEN-Z FINANCE DRAMA finally break out?
THE SECRET SAUCE
As Marcus on THE BEAR, LIONEL BOYCE is the guy everyone wants to be around. He's having that effect on Hollywood too.
The Love Machine
LOVE IS BLIND creator CHRIS COELEN drops a new group of singles into his strange experiment-and wrestles with all the lawsuits against the series.
