The Walls Might Be Closing In, But Who Cares?

Moderate right winger Jennifer Rubin of WaPo notes that the Trump White House might be in its final days:

As for Dhillon, this actually confirms author Michael Wolff’s ongoing refrain in his tell-all book that White House advisers considered Trump to be mentally and/or temperamentally incapable of doing his job. To continue to enable and defend him, knowing he is not capable of carrying out his oath, is a moral abomination and a violation of these advisers’ own oaths to defend the Constitution and country. Moreover, if Mueller has this information, it is because Dhillon and/or White House counsel Donald McGahn are talking to Mueller. Trump will now know that he is surrounded, in his mind, by disloyal people who are helping Mueller to make a case against him.

The walls are closing in on Trump, at least with respect to an obstruction-of-justice claim. Literally everyone mentioned above may have evidence that incriminates the president. Some of these people will have personal liability and therefore may be ready to cut a deal with prosecutors. The White House is melting down.

Last night I realized I had the impression that the Trump Administration is really facing disaster on just about all fronts.

1. Former Trump best friend forever Steve Bannon is now an outcast who has “lost his mind.”
2. The recent Trumpist’s attack on Robert Mueller may actually signal the realization that he has found a treasure trove of information of mis-deeds on Trump’s aides’ part – or even himself.
3. Trump’s foreign policy maneuvers have spanned a spectrum labeled “disheartening” on one end and “disastrous” on the other, even if I do wonder if Trump’s withholding of aid to Pakistan might work out well. His failure to coordinate with Tillerson simply screams “failing amateur”.
4. Senator Grassley’s recent rejection of two nominees to the Federal judiciary, as well as the withdrawal of a third, indicates Congress may be slightly less pliant than it was earlier in this Congress. And now Senator Gardner has also expressed opposition to judiciary nominations, even if it’s an ephemeral opposition.
5. Sessions’ regressive position on marijuana will only serve to intensify opposition among Democrats and Independents. Furthermore, the libertarian wing of the GOP will loathe Sessions even more, and have less and less to do with Trump’s generally un-libertarian positions.
6. Each and every special election since Jan 2017 has illustrated the short reach of President Trump’s influence, with the latest embarrassments being the near-loss of the Virginia statehouse to Democratic forces (retained by the skinniest of hairs, a ridiculous decision by a panel of judges), and the loss of Sessions’ old Senate seat in the most conservative of states.
7. And now the release of Wolff’s book, which apparently suggests Trump is mentally falling apart, i.e., may be falling into dementia.

And, yet, all that Jennifer says, and all I noted above, may not matter. If we’re to believe Gallup (and the Gallup poll has changed from daily to weekly, starting Jan 1, sad to say), Trump has gained in popularity of late – with Trump hitting 40% for the first time in quite a while.

This suggests to me nothing particularly new, just the simple old observation that most folks don’t really know or care what happens in Washington, D.C. I think there are three groups of Americans in this matter: political groupies, who are temperamentally attracted to politics, whether it’s for base reasons of power or intellectual curiosity (I sort of fit into the latter category). A second group, which has been growing rapidly and which I also sort of fit, of those who realize that, although they don’t have much interest in politics, elections have consequences (a Steve Benen aphorism), and so they’ve started educating themselves on what’s going on, and possibly even running for state-level offices. And the third group, which is shrinking as the second group grows, of those who don’t pay attention, who vote based on inertia (“dyed in the wool Republicans“, for example). Many, many people just don’t care, as the entire political process, whether it’s fund-raising, political maneuvers, or writing laws is repulsive, a reaction often reinforced by talk radio. Add in 40+ hour work weeks, interests that have nothing to do with gaining political power (although they may aspire to positions within their hobbies), and the time that it takes to run families, and it’s hard to blame them.

But without popular support, it appears the GOP will not attempt to remove Trump from his seat, no matter how incompetently he’s run this Administration. We may have to simply run him out of town in 2020.

Or not. Trump has a physical examination coming up on January 12^th. While it’s not clear to me that this includes a mental health evaluation, if he’s suffered any sort of physical failure, such as a stroke, that might impact his cognitive abilities, that would definitely be grounds for a 25^th Amendment removal process, to my non-legal mind. I don’t care how many people, deluded or not, support Trump. If his mind is no longer properly functioning due to physical or mental problems, we need to eject him from the Presidential office. It has nothing to do with disliking his policies and everything to do with the safety of the nation.