Thread by @mtracey

If Trump does forge a role as some kind of "shadow president" after leaving office, it will be a natural extension of his basic worldview: he has never subscribed to cliched, bipartisan "American Exceptionalism" dogma. Which drives a lot of people crazy
unherd.com/2020/12/enter-…

"Obama is the real shadow president!" some commenters proclaim. The way I define "shadow president" here is a former president who overtly makes a competing claim to the presidency. Which Trump is likely to do. Obama wields power, but Trump's situation would be unique in history

Trump's lack of fidelity to dogmatic "American Exceptionalism" is in some ways the prime mover of his presidency. Explains his popularity, because this dogma has long been used as a justification for unpopular policies. Also explains the rage he provokes from "institutionalists"

Not believing there's anything particularly "exceptional" about US Democracy is foundational to why Trump has spent six weeks declaring the 2020 election intrinsically fraudulent and corrupt. And this same disbelief will further guide whatever "shadow president" posture he takes

This interpretation of Trump doesn’t fit neatly into any partisan narrative which is why you never really hear it expressed. But it has huge long-term significance and will clearly persist - - maybe even intensify, depending on what exactly he does after leaving the presidency

The closest historical parallel to Trump in his post-presidency might be Theodore Roosevelt, but as far as I know Roosevelt didn't claim he was fraudulently deprived of his rightful victory in the 1912 election

Andrew Jackson wasn't a former president from 1825 to 1828 though. So T. Roosevelt seems more apt. Although there's no exact parallel, really. That's the point.

https://twitter.com/marcus_drusus/status/1339335009833021446