When misfortune strikes others, Trump crows. When it strikes him, he whines.

Trump didn’t ask Russian hackers to stop targeting the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. Instead, as they circulated stolen emails, Trump exulted, “I love Wikileaks.”

The screw has turned.

On Aug. 12, Trump claimed his campaign was targeted by Iranian government hackers. He commented on his social media mouthpiece Truth Social, “Never a nice thing to do!” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said illegally obtained documents were made public in an effort “to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process.”

Isn’t that exactly what the Russians were trying to do in 2016?

In 2016, Trump told audiences, “Lock up Hillary” and “She has to go to jail.” A State Department investigation conducted three years later during Trump’s presidency found “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information” by Clinton.

And now, in a flip-flop of fortune, it’s Trump who may be incarcerated for his actions during the 2016 campaign. In late May, Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying records to hide information which could have influenced that year’s presidential election. His reaction? He declared, “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt.” In fact, it was a unanimous jury who found him guilty, not the judge.

Still, even if Trump were sentenced to prison, he almost certainly would not start serving any sentence until after appeals and, if elected in November, after his presidential term.

In another irony-is-dead twist, Trump’s own campaign recently condemned Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz for “embracing policies to allow convicted felons to vote.” The release did not mention that Florida will probably allow convicted felon Trump to vote because he was convicted by an out-of-state court.

Trump’s reversals of fortune are not restricted to his actions during the 2016 campaign. This year, he attacked President Joe Biden, the Democrats’ apparent nominee, as “Sleepy Joe” with “hazy memory” who hardly “knows he’s alive.” Now that Biden has stepped aside in favor of the younger Kamala Harris, it’s the mental acuity of the 78-year-old Trump that’s under the microscope. As Princeton professor Julian Zelizer told USA Today, “Every misstatement, mistake or rambling sentence will be a subject of conversation. The irony is that Trump elevated the issue and might now be the focus of this very criticism now that his opposition has changed.”

In the past year, Trump has confused current President Joe Biden with former President Barack Obama and his GOP competitor Nikki Haley with former speaker Nancy Pelosi. At a rally this month, Trump said a Republican candidate for a Pennsylvania senate seat would be the state’s “next governor.” He spoke of a harrowing helicopter ride with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. Apparently, he was confusing Mayor Brown with Nate Holden, another Black politician from California. After a recent Trump press conference filled with misstatements and untruths, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, said, “He’s not all there anymore.”

In his debate with Biden, Trump boasted that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin would free American reporter Evan Gershkovich “as soon as he wins the election.” After U.S. diplomacy led to the July release of Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, the latter of whom had been held by Russia since the Trump administration, the Wall Street Journal editorial board gave “credit to the White House for pulling off this complicated swap.” Trump in contrast called it “a win for Putin.” When asked to respond to Trump’s comments, Biden asked, “Why didn’t he do it when he was president?”

Greek playwright Aeschylus wrote that Tyche is the goddess of fortune who “alone disposeth all things as she wills.” After years as Tyche’s favorite, Trump appears to have been jilted. And he isn’t taking it well.

— Keith Raffel is a columnist with Creators Syndicate.