In the afterglow of Donald Trump's typically graceless inauguration, the talk on both sides of Australian politics shifted quickly to what it portends for an election here.

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Does it boost the stocks of a would-be Trumpian strong man or perhaps frighten voters back to what they already know - a predictable, if less disruptive, status quo?

Even among the few partisans genuinely capable of separating out what they want to happen from what they conclude will happen, widely divergent possibilities seem plausible.

Some talk of a "mood change" in the electorate towards right-wing social policies, while others say the better lesson is Trump's dam-busting approach.

Until now, the boastful American has been a net-negative because Australians have regarded him as vulgar and vindictive.

It follows, then, that these voters will remain ill-disposed to any Trumpian tendencies and wary of any leader seen to render Canberra as a mere franchisee of the American brand.

However, could another possibility be emerging? Has digitally enhanced post-pandemic politics entered a new era with harsher language and a requirement to dare and dazzle? This is Labor's nightmare scenario.

With a succession of polls showing the government's primary vote sitting under 30 per cent and Anthony Albanese less popular than the alternative, progressives are rightly worried. They fear being run down by tectonic forces shifting in liberal democracies the world over.

"We're running against the zeitgeist", one insider agreed, also acknowledging that the government has too often looked flat-footed on cost-of-living concerns.

That "zeitgeist" theory has two particular application points here. First, a claimed reappraisal of Trump in Australian eyes from embarrassing dilettante to masterful dragon-slaying showman cutting the dross and inertia of established politics. Second is the sense that the elevation and re-elevation of Trump........

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