OMG, Trump at 200 Days

OMG, has it only been 200 days since Donald Trump seized the White House. As I—and others who get paid for such insights—have pointed out for months, it was Independent voters who first abandoned Trump. The latest polls show that now, finally, Trump’s lunatic “base” is faltering. With increasing erratic and difficult to ignore tweets, statements, and actions, Trump’s profound mental illness gets harder to ignore by the minute. And with no legislative successes to distract the voters, their selfish, short-term vested self-interests are not being served either. Even a fake or real international crisis, like North Korea’s accelerating ballistic missile and nuclear weapon development programs, is not enough to distract an aware and skeptical electorate. [See Trump at 200 days: Declining approval amid widespread mistrust]

Having attacked the entire national Intelligence Establishment, the Forth Estate [a Free Press and other legitimate mainstream media News outlets], the Creative Class, the independent Judiciary and Legislative branches of the Federal Government, the Rule of Law, and just about every other sacred institution or norm that serves as a counterweight to the exercise of illegitimate Presidential power, the only “trick” this one trick pony has left to fall back on is the echo chamber of his adoring lunatic supporters, enablers, and apologists. This shrinking support network does not provide a plurality that renders the Nation governable.

As people on the Left, in the Center, and even on the Right of the political spectrum agree that Trump represents a real danger to our very way of life, coordinated actions to correct this abomination and protect the Republic grow. The Trump Resistance, already broad, grows daily. And now, deliberate countermeasures and plans are taking shape. [See Naomi Klein: The Worst Is Yet to Come with Trump, So We Must Be Ready for Shock Politics.]

Our Republic has faced dangers before, foreign and domestic. The threat posed by Trump is unprecedented, but the remedies are at hand. The Nation is already ungovernable and none of either Trump’s or the Party’s agenda can pass the House and Senate. Republicans enjoy a 2-vote majority in the Senate and 24-vote majority in the House. Once Trump’s support deteriorates to the point where House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Senator or two, and even just 30 Republican Congress members are facing likely defeat, not to mention a possible blood bath, in the 2018 Mid-term elections, they will cooperate with Democrats and the pace of the various Congressional committees investigating Trump will quicken.

Even if they can Impeach, Convict, and remove Trump [and probably Pence too, as his head has been so far up Trump’s ass] from Office in disgrace before the 2018 mid-terms, it will be too late for the Republican Party. It has been too late for at least 100 days. The best they can hope for is that a President Ryan can: (1) form and lead a coalition bi-partisan government with Democrats, if he assumes office; (2) put some bi-partisan wins on the Legislative board; and (3) redeem the Party before losing the 2020 Presidential election.

The Republican Party needs to purge its lunatic Freedom Caucus and Fundamentalist Christian wings, which have poisoned the Republican Primary process and make it impossible for the Party to govern when they win. Once it does, the Party can return to its rational and productive roots, as the successful minority loyal opposition small-government, pro-business, low-tax Party occasionally controlling one House and/or the White House. This worked well for decades.

It is only when Republicans control the White House, Senate, and House, that they—the lackeys of the Rich and Corporations—get into trouble and expose the bankruptcy of their ideas. As the Nation has known well, at least since FDR and the Great Depression: Capitalist Greed and the selfish interests of the Rich do not further the Common Good. In fact, they don’t even serve the long-term interests of either Corporations or the Rich. Occasionally, enough voters forget this lesson to elect Republicans, against their clear self-interest and better judgement. Fortunately, Republicans—usually effective and ruthless in serving the needs of the privileged few, at the expense of the rest of us—quickly remind the majority why they should not vote for them.