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One can’t help but feel cheated by this year’s primary season. As a political spectacle, primaries are almost always more fun and interesting than general elections. For one, you are also more likely to hear candidates say something interesting in the primaries given that they are appealing only to their base, and as such are much closer to their true selves than when campaigning for the general election, when they are trying to be all things to all people.

The primaries are sprawled out over several months, resulting in a high-drama horse race. “Paul Tsongas is fading, but here comes Bill Clinton pulling up from the rear!” Hitherto unknown characters you’ve never heard of emerge to briefly fascinate before fading away — remember Michele Bachmann? — while others come out of nowhere and remain in the national spotlight (Mike Huckabee). And the occasional dark horse candidates! Who can forget the maverick campaigns of Pat Buchanan. Ron Paul, and Bernie Sanders?

Whereas the general election is more like the Super Bowl, the primaries are more like American Idol, where the drama is as much over who’s going to drop out next as it is about who’s going to win. Even when the result is a forgone conclusion, you still want to see how long the plucky underdog can last and how far they can go.

Aside from the roguish outsiders, primaries also see epic implosions of heir apparents – think Ted Kennedy and Jeb Bush. My first time voting was for Pat Buchanan in the 1996 primaries, and I’ve always enjoyed the spectacle. Hillary versus Obama! Reagan versus Ford! The Dean scream! Primaries are the greatest political junk food ever.

We have been deprived of a proper presidential primary this year, however, given that both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are running as incumbents. To be fair, there is a ceremonial primary taking place on the GOP side of things, but because Trump is refusing to participate in the debates, we have been robbed of the primary experience. I want my bread and circuses, damn it!

Things are not going to get any more interesting, either. Trump won the Iowa caucuses with 51% of the vote and won every county. Until Sunday the anti-Trump Republicans appeared to be split between the Never Trumpers who are backing Nikki Haley and the ex-Trumpers who preferred Ron DeSantis. Both camps still have issues with each other, so it’s questionable how much advantage Haley will gain from DeSantis’ withdrawal. I’d be surprised if Haley even makes it to Super Tuesday. I want my horse race!

It looks like it’s going to be Trump again, and yet without Trump on Twitter, we are still not getting the authentic Trump experience. It’s just not entertaining. Why is Trump refusing to return to Twitter/X when Elon Musk has unbanned him? My guess is that he is contractually obligated to exclusively use Truth Social for some time. Maybe it was a promise made to the investors. Trump has also asked social media companies to change their terms of service in order to ban criticism of Jews as a condition of his using their platform. It’s entirely possible that Trump won’t return Twitter/X simply because it’s a free-speech free-for-all under Elon Musk.

For me, it’s not a matter of whether or not I should support Trump. It’s more a recognition that we are going over the waterfall — something we have to recognize. The election is all anyone is going to be talking about for the rest of this year, and the dissident Right should always be finding ways to insert ourselves into the conversation. That doesn’t mean one has to pick a side, but should be aware of the propaganda opportunities. Both sides will do things that merit discussion. For example, all the major Black Lives Matter events have flared up during election years. Expect to see BLM reactivated this summer.

Is Trump being back a good thing or a bad thing? There’s a lot of about Trump that is a wash. Yes, he brings out the worst in our enemies, but he also brings out the worst in his fans. Yes, Trump triggers the Left, but also triggers an overreaction that usually includes waves of censorship against people like us. I’m definitely not looking forward to the return of the Trump cult, which by 2020 had become so non-ideological to the point that they would cheer on airstrikes (“Trump’s showin’ ‘em not to fuck with the USA!”) and celebrate the First Step Act which released black criminals back onto the streets — because it showed dem liberals that Trump isn’t a racist. I also hope we’ve heard the last of QAnon, but a revival could be imminent.

Trump is in a lot of legal trouble and I do not know how that will affect things. It may not influence the election all that much seeing that many view these various lawsuits as politically motivated. It will most certainly radicalize Trump’s cultists, but how the general public will react, I will not hazard to guess.

On the plus side, Trump has been getting back to his 2016 roots. He’s been talking about mass deportations since Day 1, including migrant detention centers and putting troops on the border. He’s been talking about making it illegal to close someone’s bank account due to their political views. He is being more reserved in his support for Israel. Of course, your rational brain tells you that this is just Lucy and the football. You know he’s going to yank the ball away. While this is probably true, I’d rather have him saying these things than not saying them. I’ll take “insincerely based” over “all-time low black unemployment” any day. Sigh. And yet the old “Overton window” cope regarding Trump rings a tad hollower in the era of Elon Twitter, which has got the Overton window moving along just fine with or without Trump.

I previously wondered if the recent “based” redemption arcs from various Con Inc. operatives such as Charlie Kirk, Matt Walsh, and Candace Owens were perhaps part of some kind of plan from higher up the chain. All of a sudden and without warning, Charlie Kirk takes a stand to the right of Trump and starts talking about white identity? Part of it is no doubt Elon taking over Twitter and opening discussions. The question is whether Trump is following the lead of the likes of Kirk and Owens, or whether Kirk and Owens got a memo from the Trump campaign saying, “This is what our strategy is for 2024. Make you messaging compliant with this.”

It could also be that Trump now has dissident Rightists around him. It was revealed last year that two people from the old Alt Right have since gone on to attain the upper reaches of the conservative establishment’s ecosystem. One is Richard Hanania, who wrote for several White Nationalist outlets in the early 2010s, left the scene, and became a popular mainstream conservative commentator. The other was Mike Benz, who from 2016 through 2018 was a popular Twitter and YouTube personality known as Frame Game Radio. After leaving the scene, Benz got a job in the Trump State Department and became the Right’s top expert on the censorship industry.

Hanania profusely apologized and has been virtue-signaling his non-racism ever since. Benz claimed that his participation in the Alt Right was an op and then never mentioned it again. I’m not sure anyone believes Benz, but incredibly, the conservative establishment did not cancel him. People have been fired from the Trump camp for having ties to the Alt Right, but the fact that Benz survived a cancellation without even having to make much of an apology tour is a sign that getting caught having a White Nationalist past is no longer the death sentence it used to be, at least in the Trumpsphere.

Hanania and Benz are just the two guys who got caught. How many more are out there, hiding their power level as they work their way up the ladder? What we may see in the near future is a delayed reaction to the 2016 Alt Right boom, where the people who were kids then start attaining positions of influence. A 22-year-old intern in 2016 would now be 30, and would have moved a few steps higher up. Trump may have some undercover /OurGuys/ in his circle.

If there is one indisputable silver lining in Trump’s return, it’s that he will get more people engaging in politics on the Internet, which is good for the dissident Right. It is far easier for us to reach people online than when they are binge-watching Netflix. And as a content creator, I know having Trump around will generate content.