Relegated to retired Florida man by the New York Post, others seem to be in desperate need of making Trump matter again. It began with another bit of Elon Musk silliness on the twitters, a poll asking whether Trump should be let back in.

The people have spoken.

Trump will be reinstated.

Vox Populi, Vox Dei. https://t.co/jmkhFuyfkv

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2022

While he earlier “promised” to take no action until some council he planned to form rendered a verdict on changes, Muck impetuously chose a poll instead and, the the vote going slightly in favor of Trump, made his decision. Who cares?

Statement from the NAACP, calling on all advertisers to pause all advertising on Twitter after Trump’s reinstatement on the social media platform: pic.twitter.com/nV4o1SyJwl

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 20, 2022

.@elonmusk's decisions over the last month have been erratic and alarming, but this decision is dangerous and a threat to American democracy. We need to ask — is it time for Twitter to go?

— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) November 20, 2022

In contrast, others who were hardly Trumpkins but favored more free speech, even by pariahs, pointed out that no matter how awful Trump is, allowing a former president and candidate again onto a platform where nobody, but nobody, has to give a damn what inane nonsense he spews isn’t a threat to democracy. As much as Trump did what he could to seize power upon his rejection,  the fact is he has finally been recognized as the single greatest failure in American politics, evidenced not merely by the death of the Republican party whose candidates were crushed because of their association with the biggest loser, but also the rise of extreme left wing ideology in the gaping hole Trump created.

And that is why they care. That’s why the NAACP is “outraged” at Trump’s being let back in. That’s why the ADL has split a gut. It’s not that they wield any influence with Musk such that he might have a change of mind, but that they want, need, Trump back in the faces of normal people so that people never forget how despicable he is. They need to build up his importance as a powerful threat to all things good and decent so that people who have come to realize that he’s a pimple that popped, his pus having been drained and leaving nothing but a pock mark, will once again tremble with outrage.

And vote for Democrats. And support progressive changes to a nation that would never be acceptable otherwise. Without the blight of Trump, the left could not win. They need Trump. They need Trump back, loud and awful. And they need to shriek about him, knowing that it won’t change his return but might make people care and fear and hate Trump as much as they did when they elected Biden in his stead.

The dirty little secret among the politicians of the right is that they’ve always known Trump to be a vulgar, narcissistic, deceitful ignoramus. But he was their ignoramus, shamelessly doing what they wanted by pandering to the worst instincts of the simplest people, the ones who Mencken said deserved to get democracy “good and hard.” They knew it then and they know it now, except now they realized that Darth Cheeto flamed out after having cost the Republicans in the 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections.

They should have realized it when Trump threw the Senate to the Dems in Georgia because of his puny broken ego, but still feared the clout he carried in the backwaters. But now that he’s blown it again, they’re done with Trump. Even Ivanka has had enough of him.

But guess who isn’t done with Trump, who still needs their evil villain to rally their unduly passionate gnats to put down this wannabe insurrectionist? After the Supreme Court in Dobbs did everything humanly possible to reinvigorate a Democratic and independent base that had grown weary of hearing the screams that the sky was falling, the Republicans made sure that the message was driven home with election denying, abortion denying, outliers who would rather suffer woke than any more Trump. Pushed to make a choice, they did. Trump lost. Bigly.

To the extent there is any hope for a return to normality, to reasonableness, to a future that isn’t a tyranny by the crazies of one side or the other, both of which believe they are the good guys and the other tribe is evil, it starts with no longer caring about Trump, whether he’s let back on twitter or not. Don’t be goaded into loving or hating him. He no longer matters. Let this blight on our national angst fade into the obscurity he’s so richly earned.

Imagine Trump on twitter and nobody cared except for the occasional lulz. He’s over and it’s time to move on.