White voters are turning on Trump, new data shows. Why now?

In the mythology that holds sway over President Trump’s political imagination, the massive crises rocking the country — pandemic, depression, the worst civil unrest in 50 years — are all being alchemized by Trump’s magical reality-bending powers into political gold.

Trump has hoped to use these events to solidify his grip on his base, by vowing to protect Trump country from a disease ravaging urban America, by harnessing the supposed populist rage of Real American workers against Democratic elites locking down economies, and by repurposing “law and order” race-baiting to transform Joe Biden into an ally of crime and urban mayhem.

We know from Trump’s sliding approval and Biden’s growing lead that these efforts are failing. For now, anyway.

But a new analysis by Nate Cohn of the Upshot, and some new Post polling, shed fresh light on why they might be failing — and on what it means that Trump’s alchemical powers are deserting him.