Winds change and without warning politics changes: In 1980 Reagan and Carter were running neck and neck ten days before the election – winds changed, Reagan won 44 states.

Sitting in my office ten years later during Jesse Helms’ Senate campaign our pollster pointed to one question in his poll: 80% of the voters disagreed with Helms’ opponent Harvey Gantt on an issue. We made an ad. Aired it. Took another poll. Sitting in the same room I asked, Explain this to me: People disagreed with Gantt but the ad flopped – how did that happen?

A streak of lighting struck.

Leaning forward, shoulders swaying Dick Morris sputtered, Ouh, ouh, you’ve been doing that same kind of ad – dark music, melodramatic voices, flashy graphics – for years. The minute people see one they tune it out.

The ground shifted. We made a simple ad with no melodrama on the same issue – it worked.

The Apprentice, Trump’s reality TV show, boiled down to two words – Trump saying, You’re fired. Ratings soared. The show was a hit. Years passed. The ground shifted. Ratings plummeted. The show tanked. Trump ran for president.

Trump’s politics mirrored Trump on reality TV. Insults, name calling – ‘Crooked Hillary, Sleepy Joe’ – took center stage. When Trump said Make America Great Again his disciples ignited, crowds roared.

He won. Lost. Ran a third time. Was wounded. His son, friends, said he was a changed man. He stepped back onto the stage, lips set growled Kamala Harris was evil, unhinged, sick. The old Trump was back. Trumpsters cheered.

But with Biden gone there’re signs the ground beneath Trump’s feet is shifting again. Weary of vitriol, tired of insults, after watching Trump for nine years people may be ready to move on.