As of this writing — on the eve of the New Hampshire presidential primary — Donald Trump seems to already have a lock on the GOP nomination for president. But just who is he?

Each side of our political divide has crafted its own characterization of this singularly well-known public figure. The two views are diametrically opposed. Whom should the voters believe? Maybe it’s time for a more rational look at who and what Donald Trump is — and is not.

The Biden Democrats and their cadre of Leftmedia all maintain that Trump is the devil incarnate. They tell us that the stakes couldn’t be higher; that Trump the dictator is poised to steal our freedoms, our liberty, and democracy itself. Evidently, they believe that Trump poses a threat so great that whatever it takes to prevent his return to office is justifiable — hence, the well-coordinated barrage of civil and criminal legal actions against him (four indictments and 91 felony charges) and the aggressive attempts in many states to keep him off primary and general election ballots.

At this point, the Democrats don’t bother to deny that they are interfering with the election — they argue that the interference is a necessary public service.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the political aisle (and in many cases, the other side of the dinner table), Trump’s supporters remain convinced that he is the nation’s political savior, the superhero, the only one with the courage, tenacity, and capability to arrest our country’s downward spiral — in short, to make American great again.

But we can ignore the buzz from both sides. There is really no mystery about Donald Trump. He was our president for four years.

We’ve all seen firsthand the good Trump and the bad Trump. The picture that is etched in my brain is his State of the Union Address to Congress in early 2020. Our country was doing fine, he’d attacked the job of president with energy and resilience, and I marveled at how he’d managed to keep us on the right track in the face of fierce, unrelenting “resistance.” (And moments later we also watched House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rip up and discard her copy of Trump’s speech — a profoundly inappropriate insult that reminded us of just how much her party detested the Republican president, regardless of the state of our union.)

And then there was the bad Trump, stumbling badly through the COVID nightmare. Worse, there was Trump’s post-2020 election meltdown, his unbridled fury, his inattention to the Georgia runoff election that cost the GOP two critical U.S. Senate seats, and his role — still debated — in the January 6 debacle.

Like the man himself, Trump’s track record is mercurial — with very high highs and very low lows. With Trump, what you see is what you get. If 2024 turns out to be a Trump vs. Biden race, every American voter can ignore the TV ads, yard signs, robocalls, and incessant media buzz. They can just look back over the past eight years and decide who they would rather see back in the White House.

In that one-on-one context, even the widely reviled, wounded Trump has the advantage — primarily because of his opponent’s dismal performance as president, record unpopularity, and already obvious age-related decline. So yes, I believe that Donald Trump, warts and all, would beat Joe Biden in a one-on-one race.

But what if Biden is not the opponent? That’s an entirely new calculus, dependent totally on whom the Democrats choose to replace him.

At this point, Democrat leadership feigns enthusiastic support for Biden’s reelection, but they have obvious reasons to change horses. Surely they know that Biden is the wrong choice for 2024; most Americans know it as well, and I suspect that even Joe Biden knows it. And what better time to make that change than after the GOP has locked in on perhaps the only candidate they can defeat?

Meanwhile, the Trump juggernaut is in high gear, firing up the Trump base and chewing up his competitors. By the time this column hits the net, he may have vanquished all.

What’s the hurry? Trump argues forcefully that Priority #1 for Republicans is to come together in unity and gird for the coming general election. He is right in the sense that the GOP has been far too fractious and must coalesce on purpose, principles, and plans for the tough road ahead. But we know that when Trump speaks of unity, he means fealty to one individual — himself, of course — and in the next breath he ridicules Ron DeSanctimonious or Birdbrain Nikki. How does that inspire party unity?

The current Trump tidal wave has little to do with GOP election strategy. I believe it is a highly emotional response by his followers who are at last in a position to send a resounding message to those who have been savaging their guy relentlessly since he first appeared on the political scene. That’s retribution of the first order and it feels great — but is it the right move for our country?

When it’s time to cast our votes, I and every other American voter will look at the nominees and choose the one we feel is best for the job. With Trump as the GOP standard-bearer, I’m not going to worry for a minute about American democracy — my concern will be that we have chosen the wrong candidate for the wrong reasons in a very dangerous world.