Trump at 18 Months

Polling Shows a Persistent Majority Disapprove of Trump's Presidency

In the six months since my last update, Trump's outrages have ebbed and flowed. For brief periods, he's suppressed The Crazy and his approval numbers have edged up. But he really only knows The Crazy as a governance approach. And when he brings it, his approval numbers have edged down.

The best thing that can be said is that he has learned how to suppress his natural tendencies for a few hours or days. But as mental health professionals have repeatedly warned, his mental illness ensures that as the Mueller Investigation and other things close in, he becomes more erratic, unstable, and dangerous.

After 18 months, the fearful, hateful, willfully ignorant tribalism that Trump has fostered and exploited since he announced his candidacy has only hardened. His minority base—a combination of Trump True Believers and a smaller and more fanatic Trump uber alles core base—is dug in. Fortunately, the majority of Americans, who oppose and resist him, is even more dug in.

The durable stability of Trump's minority base, standing with him regardless of the outrage, is astounding and terrifying. Even Trump's recent treasonous performance in Helsinki, where he sucked up to Russia's Putin, and repeated his acceptance of Putin's denials of Russian interference in the 2016 election over the unambiguous consensus of his own Intelligence Community that Russia did and continues to do so, did not shack them.

The Midterms this November

With Trump's high approval among Republican voters, the opportunistic and morally bankrupt Republican Congress is not going to move to impeach him, no matter his corruption and outrages, or the results of the Mueller Investigation. As the midterms approach, less than 100 days away, the frightening prospect is that the turnout of each Tribe's voters, and the feckless involvement of "Independent" voters, will determine the fate of our Nation. If the Republican's lose their majority in the House, the Democratic majority in 2019 will greatly limit Trump's actions and move on his impeachment.

There is plenty of good news and reason for optimism. Trump has not only brought an authoritarian, un-American, and irreconcilable malignant cancer on the Body Politic in our midst—his 10-15% lunatic Trump uber alles core base—into the light, he has also exposed the utter moral bankruptcy and rapacious greed of the mostly White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) Filthy Rich and Corporate America, and their lackeys, the Republican Party. This is obvious and most apparent in the attitudes of Republicans versus a significant majority of Americans toward unsustainable obscene wealth and income inequality. This provides the Democrats with an obvious election strategy.

Two Roosevelts where not afraid to take on the issues of Obscene Wealth and Corporations, and their undo influence on the political process. See“New Nationalism Speech”, Theodore Roosevelt, August 31, 1910 and How FDR Took on the Forces of Wealth and Power.

The signature Trump/Republican 'Tax Reform' fraud is recognized by both Democrats and Independents as a gift to the Filthy Rich and Big Corporations, with little if any relief for workers and the Middle Class. See Trump’s Tax Cut Hasn’t Done Anything for Workers and Less Than Half in U.S. Now Say Their Taxes Are Too High.

Growing Trump Instability

Of course, given Trump's nature, there is always a possibility that Trump will push The Crazy to the point that the more reasonable members of his base, and a larger majority of Independent voters will finally repudiate him.

Trump’s latest rage-tweets about Mueller and border wall reveal GOP weakness

"Over the weekend, President Trump escalated his rage-tweets about special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, threatened a government shutdown to get his great wall on the southern border, and blasted the news media for selling out the country, while basically shrugging at the idea that egging on his supporters’ hatred of the press might be placing independent journalists in greater danger. It’s a reminder that Trump’s authoritarianism and bigotry will be front and center in this fall’s midterm elections…"

Trump opens window into his rage with Mueller attack

"Donald Trump is giving Americans a glimpse of the fury raging inside him as a pivotal moment nears for special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, and different strands of political and legal vulnerability swirling around the President become ever more threatening…

'There is no Collusion! The Robert Mueller Rigged Witch Hunt, headed now by 17 (increased from 13, including an Obama White House lawyer) Angry Democrats, was started by a fraudulent Dossier, paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC. Therefore, the Witch Hunt is an illegal Scam!' Trump tweeted Sunday…

The attacks are not simply a window into his own rage, they also represent a coherent hardball strategy to unite his ever loyal political base and other Republicans behind him. With 100 days to go until midterm elections, that could be tough for the GOP…"

Trump: 'I would have no problem doing a shutdown'

“President Donald Trump doubled down Monday on his claim that he would shut down the government this fall if the funding he wants for border security is not approved by Congress.

‘As far as the border is concerned, and personally, if we don't get border security, after many, many years of talk within the United States, I would have no problem doing a shutdown,’ Trump said during a press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, adding that the two are ‘united in our conviction that strong nations must have strong borders.’..."

Bob Woodward's New Book

Just in time for the Midterms, Bob Woodward, the Washington Post reporter who with Carl Bernstein broke the Watergate cover-up and led to President Nixon's downfall, will publish Fear: Trump in the White House.

In a new book, Bob Woodward plans to reveal the ‘harrowing life’ inside Donald Trump’s White House

"In the worldwide capital of leaks and anonymous dishing that is Washington, secrets can be almost impossible to keep.

But somehow over the past 19 months, the fact that America’s most famous investigative journalist was quietly chipping away at a book that delves into the dysfunctions of President Trump’s White House remained largely unknown. On Monday night, that veil of secrecy will be lifted when Simon & Schuster plans to announce that it will publish “Fear: Trump in the White House” by Bob Woodward on Sept. 11, according to a copy of the release obtained by The Washington Post.

In the book, Woodward’s 19th, the 75-year-old journalist and author “reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies,” the publisher’s release states."

The Bottom Line

Trump will say and do anything to cling to power. He will continue to undermine and attack any institution that threatens his reign, continue to feed his minority base and divide the Nation to the brink of Civil War, continue to use Fear and Chaos as a deliberate governance strategy. He will try to take down the Republican Party, and destroy America, if it comes to that.

If the Democrats retake the House in the Midterms this November, we can begin to end this madness in 2019. Baring that, we will have to continue to resist Trump until the 2020 election. Of course, Trump is mortal, and not a young man. Fate could solve the Trump Problem for America. It is unfortunate that the Republican Party will not act for the good of the Nation. It is not ideal that there is any possibility that a Democratic Wave will not sweep Republicans from Office in the Midterms.

Perhaps the most frightening fact is that our final line of defense against this treasonous lunatic demagogue 'President' is our US Military. Then again, our military has defended us well, though not always best served by our civilian leaders. I am still confident that our military leaders will not let Trump blow up the planet to avoid removal from office in disgrace; or start a war in the misguided hope that it would rally public support for his illegitimate presidency. And with Trump's treasonous obsession with Putin and Russia, it is not beyond possibility that our military leaders would intervene if Trump's obsession begins to pose a real threat to our Nation. They are patriots, after all, Their oath is not allegiance to an unstable Commander-in-Chief, but to the Constitution and People of the United States.