comment: >
  
  
  Trump—who still proclaimed he’s “more angry now” 
  
  They say that about progressive dementia
context: Here is the beginning of our story:
  Instead of packing arenas and touring the nation to remind everyone who’s king of the Republican Party, Donald Trump is trying something he never really attempted during his previous campaigns: retail politics.  
  Goofy trips to local restaurants and long lines for selfies have never been Trump’s forte, with the former president almost always opting for the packed arena and a quick plane departure rather than working a living room circuit and pressing the flesh.  
  So it was notable over the weekend when Trump, whose campaign has appeared asleep for months, awoke with a pair of private events in New Hampshire and South Carolina capped off with a visit to a local ice cream and burger joint, where Trump was seen clasping hands with an employee and praying.  
  It could be a concerted effort to soften Trump’s image—to bring him out of his shell as a billionaire former president holed up in his oceanside Mar-a-Lago resort. But it could also be something quite different—a charm offensive campaign of necessity that’s literally doomed.  
  “Let’s not fall for the political spin: the Trump campaign saying he’ll do more retail-style events, they’re simply saying that because they know he can’t pull the crowds he used to,” Alyssa Farah-Griffin, Trump’s former White House communications director, told The Daily Beast.  
  “This is not some grand strategy of, like, if he shakes enough hands and kisses enough babies, it's gonna turn the tide for him.”  
  Trump is no stranger to self-reinvention, but paltry fundraising numbers and a questionable demand for his vintage MAGA rallies have left him in a bind.