Trump's pitch as a candidate is that it's a coarse world filled with bastards, that a lot of those bastards are not just foreign enemies but domestic elites that want to take advantage of "us," and that it takes a hardened and coarse son-of-a-bitch to put all those bastards in their place. That's why, I think, the message that Harris was sending earlier was so effective - it framed Trump as dumb and weird and goofy, which is the opposite of what he wanted to spin.

Agree on the "domestic elites", but not sure I agree on the foreign enemies (except for those attempting to cross the border to claim asylum).

He showed little interest in the "coarse bastards" when he was in-office, and I haven't seem him talk about that much as a candidate. Which is consistent with my observation that he is, at heart, an isolationist. He just doesn't care about anything beyond our borders, and questions why we should expend any resources beyond our borders. He doesn't understand why Ukraine is a "thing", doesn't seem to care about the South China Sea, has stated he doesn't think NATO is a big deal, etc. Which is a legitimate position to hold (i.e. isolationism), even if it is naive and stupid, and historically didn't end well the last time we pursued it.