He was impeached twice, found liable in fraud and sexual abuse lawsuits, convicted of dozens of felonies and has been declared politically dead again and again -- but count Donald Trump out at your peril. With just over a week to go until his third presidential election -- and a little over three months after he was literally shot at -- the Republican tycoon's political stamina is as robust as ever. The 78-year-old has emerged from a summer of missteps and a lurch into authoritarian rhetoric with better odds of securing a second White House term than at any point since that July assassination attempt in a field in Pennsylvania.
Trump detractors have watched the unforced errors in his 2024 campaign with a mix of delight, frustration and bewilderment as the man whose downfall has long been predicted has managed to keep his supporters on board. Depending on who you ask, Trump's biggest fumbles have been a divisive vice-presidential pick, a laissez-faire attitude to his daily campaign work and an excessive focus on outgoing president Biden. Trump's own words have, as ever, been extraordinary -- from wild conspiracy theories about immigrants eating people's pets and lies about hurricanes to authoritarian threats of revenge against his opponents.
And then there's what Democrats have labelled the "weird" stuff -- the personal insults and name-calling, rambling interviews and rally speeches, and a campaign event that ended with Trump swaying onstage to music for 40 minutes. The oldes.
