Trump Rejoices at How the Landscape Has Changed

A mini-motorcade of golf carts cruised down the palm tree-lined pathway. Up in front was Donald J. Trump, riding shotgun as his second son, Eric, drove them right onto the green of their golf course in Doral, Fla., where crowds of sweaty supporters stood by barricaded sand traps, waiting, as the mercury hovered around 100.

Mr. Trump had not been seen in days, and now there he was on Tuesday night, standing on a stage that had been erected near the golf course’s 10th hole. Squinting, he looked out.

Oh, how much the landscape had changed, and in such a short time.

The word “landslide” is now credibly being mentioned about Mr. Trump for the first time in his political career. Earlier on Tuesday, the nonpartisan election forecaster Cook Political Report slid six states in his direction.

The “Democrat party,” he began, “is divided in chaos. And having a full-scale breakdown.”

No lie detected there.

In the first moments after President Biden’s meltdown on the debate stage 13 days ago, Mr. Trump, too, had seemed oddly unnerved. He held a rally in Virginia the day after to crow about how he had conquered, but there was also an undercurrent of concern — a genuine fear that the Democrats might actually unite to replace Mr. Biden with a more formidable candidate.

Mr. Trump openly addressed that uncertainty in Virginia. But then, in an uncharacteristic display of discipline, he restrained his id and listened to his superego, largely disappearing from view to let the Democratic infighting play out.