Trump and his supporters are doing more than merely swapping left with right. In August, the former president told Musk that lawfare is something that happens “in banana republics and third world countries,” an unprecedented phenomenon in the United States until his prosecutions in New York, Georgia, and other jurisdictions. Crying lawfare helps Trump cultivate an image of America akin to a corrupt Latin American country—a banana republic he alone can redeem. (Trump’s team has warned his legal woes mean America is becoming like “Cuba and Venezuela.”)

Yet again, every accusation is a confession. He isn’t actually wrong that the US is becoming corrupt, because it’s his, his followers, and the Heritage Foundation’s efforts making it so!