By the time Donald Trump announced his 2024 campaign for president, the idea of a “new Trump” had become a running gag, taken seriously only by the most credulous reporters and most desperately optimistic Republican officeholders. Then came one of the strangest sequences of events in modern American political history: Biden’s complete debate collapse, a failed assassination attempt against Trump, the selection of J. D. Vance as Trump’s running mate, and the rapid replacement of Biden atop the Democratic ticket with Kamala Harris. Meet the new Trump, same as the old Trump.