Does that really seem probable, though? Or are we all just hoping beyond hope that this will finally be the moment that turns the tide of public opinion in Donald Trump's favor when so many moments before have passed without doing so? That's the question I'm left asking myself the day after the mugshot inundated social media and cable news networks. 

Yes, the memes were hilarious, but memes aren't going to save your family. As someone with an X account large enough to be monetized (Full disclosure: I got my first payment a few weeks ago), the easiest thing in the world would be for me to join the fray and pretend that the memes have secured the White House. 

I can't do that, though, for one simple reason: I don't believe it. 

As Steve Deace shared in the aftermath of the mugshot's release, if Americans weren't willing to rise up and punish the Democrat Party to protect their own families from COVID tyranny, they aren't going to rise up to protect a billionaire that consistently polls as the most unpopular major political figure in the country (no matter how much some Americans love him on a political level).

I know saying that won't get me the clicks because that's not what most want to hear right now, and certainly, there's plenty of room to complain about the indictments and how politically motivated they are. I've written plenty of articles doing just that. The memes aren't going to pay for your groceries, though. They aren't going to fill your gas tank. They won't pay your mortgage. Joe Biden isn't going to resign in the face of them nor is Randi Weingarten going to stop destroying the lives of children because they are going viral. 

That's the tension in the conservative movement right now. It feels really good to sit in our social media bubbles and think that because we are outraged, everyone else must be outraged. Does that help us win in 2024, though? I don't see any evidence of that, and the only way anything changes is by booting Democrats out of the White House. The only thing the left understands is power, and if you don't have it, you've got nothing. That doesn't mean Donald Trump can't win next year. It does mean that he's not going to win if the Republican Party's entire strategy is to count on a backlash that will likely never materialize. 

So enjoy the memes and breathless proclamations as entertainment, but understand, that's all they are. We've still got a fierce political battle to fight next year, and we can't delude ourselves into thinking most Americans see this situation the same way we see it. We can only operate in the reality that exists.