Trump White House Archived PDM 1.0 DEED, via Flickr, Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

Vanity Fair finds itself grappling with an unexpected dilemma: the Trump campaign appears to be efficient beyond expectations.

In an article titled Inside the Terrifyingly Competent Trump 2024 Campaign, penned by Gabriel Sherman for the outlet, President Donald Trump's reelection bid is portrayed as being helmed by a formidable, adept, and highly efficient team.

“With Donald Trump mostly focused on his own legal peril—leaving staffers free to run the campaign—the candidate’s third bid for the White House is as efficient as it is explicitly authoritarian,” Sherman writes. “How worried should you be? Very.”

Sherman observes a perplexing trend amidst Trump's legal entanglements wherein these challenges seem insufficient to derail the campaign.

If anything, Sherman highlights. the specter of “legal peril” has paradoxically galvanized Trump's base. 

Sherman recounts the polarized reactions to Trump's mug shot, an emblematic moment captured during his booking and arraignment in Fulton County, Georgia, following a RICO indictment brought forth by DA Fani Willis.

This image epitomizes Trump's alleged criminality to Democrats, while to Trump's ardent supporters, it signifies his persecution by what they perceive as the “deep state.”

Notably, the sale of merchandise featuring Trump's mug shot contributed a staggering $7 million to the campaign's financial reserves.

Sherman's apprehensions extend beyond mere legal battles. He expresses deep concern over the potential ramifications should Trump secure a second term. The prospect of Trump's “increasingly extreme and violent rhetoric” translating into policy alarms Sherman, who fears that this scenario may not be far-fetched.

“While his 2016 agenda was frequently stymied by infighting and incompetence, available signs point to a second West Wing staffed by loyalists who would actually carry out his policies,” Sherman asserts.

The recent overhaul of the Republican National Committee, spearheaded by Trump himself and culminating in the appointment of his daughter-in-law Lara as co-chair, serves as a strategic blueprint for consolidating power, according to Sherman's analysis.

Jason Miller, the former president's senior campaign adviser, told Sherman that “Trump knows who can deliver and who can’t. The backstabbers who were around in 2016 won’t be in this next White House.”

Trump's unwavering popularity among his base, coupled with his formidable electoral performance in 2020 and the consolidation of a proven, competent, and fiercely loyal campaign team, presents a formidable challenge.

For Sherman and many Democrats, it's similar to witnessing the transformation of a hapless golfer, akin to Adam Sandler's character in Happy Gilmore, suddenly mastering the art of putting: Trump's campaign, they fear, may be poised for a triumphant surge.

Sherman's apprehensions intensify as he delves into the potential composition of Trump's inner circle during a prospective second term. The notion of an administrative apparatus dismantled under Trump's leadership evokes grave concerns about the integrity of governance.

Sherman, in conclusion, invokes a plea for divine intervention: “God help us, indeed.”

It's a poignant reflection of the profound apprehension surrounding the trajectory of Trump's campaign and its potential implications for the nation.

“So how extreme could a second Trump administration get? One thing is certain, few of the guardrails that protected American democracy during his first term are still standing,” Sherman writes.

“In February, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, Trump’s last GOP antagonist, announced he would be stepping down and soon endorsed Trump. 'Trump wants to disintegrate the administrative state,' Scaramucci told me. 'They want to wipe out the separation of powers and make Trump a dictator. It’s very clear,'” he continued.