Does Donald Trump's rage-based movement have a future?

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The news, in brief …

• “Don’t close the book on him”: Tuberville says Trump could serve third term

  Alabama's Tommy Tuberville said Trump could "go around the Constitution." Read more.

• “There’s a cost”: Maddow blasts Comcast for donating to Trump’s White House ballroom

  MSNBC host called out her network's parent company for paying for Trump to "take an excavator to the White House." Read more.

• “In it for the long haul”: Stewart shares Trump’s “tell” that he’s running in 2028

  The "Daily Show" host says he knows that Trump is signaling a 2028 presidential run. Read more.

Make me smarter …

Trump is still ranting about 2020 — but it’s really about 2026

Winning the midterms is essential for Trump's anti-democracy project — and pride. Read more.

28 terms later …

Picture an idyllic island, surrounded by waves and an imposing, uninterrupted wall.

The island is connected to the mainland by a long, straight road. The mainland is as gorgeous and green as the island, but its sparse population is infected by an extremely contagious virus that causes fits of uncontrollable rage. Most of the islanders’ needs are met locally, and within the walls, you’d hardly know anything was wrong. But duty and necessity force them to take semi-regular trips to the mainland, where the pandemic’s scars are still apparent and the permanently aggrieved drift around waiting for someone new to scream and charge at.

Horror fans in the audience probably know I’m dancing around the plot of “28 Years Later,” the second sequel to Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s groundbreaking zombie film “28 Days Later.” But as Halloween approaches and the winter holidays loom, I can’t help but see the parallels in the annual trek home to Trump Country.

I leave my progressive island in New Orleans, taking the longest, straightest and most boring interstate in America back to Florida. My hometown is a beachfront paradise. The Gulf Stream keeps the weather and water pleasant nearly year-round while warding off hurricanes that might spoil the party.

This area has always leaned conservative thanks to a steady stream of Northeastern retirees, seeking refuge from the snow and state income taxes. Recent building booms and eras of easy credit have made asset-rich millionaires out of the native population of leather-tanned good old boys. Despite the all-around prosperity and general good fortune, the typical resident is a seething ball of rage.

The MAGA infection hit North Florida hard. Only partially recovered from the 2008 financial crisis by the time Trump descended his golden escalator, many people here found the prospect of an endless stream of “thems” to be mad at too much to pass up, even coming from exactly the same kind of rich-boy developer-type who wrecked the state in the first place. The formerly moderate Republicans who helped raise me started parroting his catchphrases in casual conversation and buying red caps to cover their rapidly receding hairlines. And, for a while, it seemed to be working. A rush of remote workers and pandemic-assisted spike in real estate value left them living on goldmines. Still, the cheap high of Trumpian anger felt too good to give up.

Like the islanders of “Years,” some of them joined a cult built around the life of a late pedophile. The ones who didn’t still needed a way to make their anger make sense. They reaped the benefits of the boom, but still felt convinced that somewhere out there, someone who didn’t deserve it was living a better life than they were. They sat on fragrant porches covered in Confederate jasmine and seethed.

We’re 10 years into the MAGA era and early predictions that the rage virus would peter out, that the movement would stall once the infected ran out of fuel for their anger, have proven too optimistic. Trump’s time should be at an end, stalled by age, scandal or the Constitution. Recent rantings from the president suggest he’s not ready to let term limits or creeping senility bring his age to a close. Wishing for a time beyond Trump may well curl a finger on the proverbial lab monkey’s paw. What does a movement built on anger and destruction do without a leader? What happens when folks here have nowhere else to direct their rage but at unwitting passersby? Give me a few more Christmases to find out.

What do you think? When does Trump’s time end? Will MAGA disappear with him? Click the speech bubble icon at the top of this email to leave your thoughts in the comments.

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