Trump and magicians.

 

When you start out performing magic, you learn very quickly not to do a trick twice.

 

The first time you perform it, the misdirection and sleight-of-hand work because the audience doesn't know what to expect, and the final effect comes as surprise.

 

"Do it again," someone will usually say. But if you do, they now know what's coming and will try to figure out how you do it.

 

Mr Trump has a set repertoire of campaigning tricks. They worked in 2016 - like the name-calling, distraction and misdirection, confected outrage and contrived scandals such as the Clinton email debacle dropped in the last few days of the campaign - because it caught people unawares. They had never come across a presidential candidate like this before who didn't play by the rules and they had few answers to counter his actions.

 

Now in this campaign performance he is trotting out the same bag of tricks, even down to the alleged Biden emails on a mysterious laptop.

 

Could it be that this time round American voters, like the audience at a magic show who have seen this trick before, know what to watch for and are less likely to fall for political prestidigitation?