"His act is way tired. It's now nine years of 'Fake news' and 'You won't have a country anymore' and all the rest. In 2015, all those Trumpisms were stupid and disgusting; but at least they were new. I actually laughed when he described Jeb Bush as a 'low-energy person.' He was! I could imagine then how, for voters who didn't hate him, he was interesting and possibly amusing as a species that American politics rarely produces; someone who threw the script in the air and said whatever the hell popped into his mind.

That was bound to be something people wanted to watch, for a while. And it was just as bound to be something that became less compelling over time. It's an act. And this is a key difference between politics and show business that Trump can't see. In showbiz, and on TV, it's all about whether the production values can sell the act. In politics, it turns out, the act needs more than slick production. It still needs to show some connection to people's lives and concerns. Harris is better at that than Trump is. And her act is a lot fresher, too. And Walz's act versus Vance's? Not remotely close. Yes—Walz is so compelling, and Vance so repelling, that this is one election where the veep choices may actually make two points' worth of difference.

None of this means Trump is finished. Happy Days lasted several seasons after it literally jumped the shark. But the ratings did start to fall soon enough. No one ever hated Fonzie, like many do Trump. But even fans of the show became a lot less invested in it. My old friend reminded me of the quote by Elie Wiesel: 'The opposite of love is not hate. It's indifference.'"

Donald Trump Has Totally Jumped the Shark