One Writer Seems Sure That Republicans Recognize That Trump is Sinking Them. But is That Really True?

This is a recent Op/Ed piece by Jennifer Rubin published in the Washington Post just yesterday.

In it, she argues that Republicans are finally waking up to the fact that Donald Trump is doing a horrible job in the White House, and that he is dragging them down with him.

You know, I think that she may have a point. This is true, perhaps particularly in terms of their long-term legacy, in any case.

That said, however, my own personal suspicion is that Trump is basically as popular - and unpopular - as ever before. While he maybe got a slight bump (frankly undeserved) at times this year immediately following the impeachment hearings, and then the coronavirus pandemic, that has largely gone away, and in a hurry. However, this president, who has had almost historical levels of unpopularity, nevertheless did not come crashing down, either, in terms of his popularity. In fact, right now, he is still at or near highs of his presidency.

And while she talks about the Senate as almost sure to flip back to Democrats, I am not nearly as certain. After all so many Trump detractors predicted a tsunami in 2018, and it did not happen. Yes, the House and many state governments flipped back to the Democrats, but the Senate did not. In fact, Republicans strengthened their hand. 

Once again, Trump detractors too often seem blinded by their contempt for the man and/or for his followers to recognize the truth: there are many, many Americans who seem to like him, and sympathize with his supporters.  I find the man and his loyal supporters repugnant and indefensible, but I also have recognized that this is the way that I have felt in the past. I started voting in 1992, and while that was a Democratic win, Newt Gingrich's Contract on America swept into power in 1994, despite some despicable positions and beliefs. Republicans seemingly were growing crazier in the latter nineties, and then they won in 2000, gaining not just the White House (through a stolen election), but both houses of Congress, as well.  Republicans strengthened their hand even further in 2002 and then, in an election that was truly a punch in the gut (even though I saw the results coming well ahead of time), when George W. Bush very undeservedly got another term in office, and got a Republican majority in both houses of Congress, as well. 

Bush was a historically bad president, and he did not have the political outsider status to save him, in terms of poll numbers. After the biggest national security disaster in American history, numerous major corporate scandals, more than on recession, two wars fought unsuccessfully and simultaneously, flouting the world in pursuing the invasion of a sovereign nation without justification on any serious level, and finally, when the entire economy was almost run to the ground, Americans rejected Bush and his Republican party.

Yet, it was not such a major landslide that Republicans felt that they could not recover. Within a couple of years, there was the rise of the Tea Party. Americans polled suddenly seemed to miss George W. Bush in the White House, despite, again, a historically horrific presidency. 

So, it was not a real shock to me that someone like Trump would rise to the White House. I was a bit shocked that it was, in fact, Trump. After all, he is a city slicker billionaire who's arrogance and greed is legendary, and who seems to take pride in rejecting anything resembling traditional Christian values. Yet, he became the hero of Evangelicals, and he eventually got into the Oval Office.

Now, after nearly four years of legendary debacles and idiocy, a seemingly never ending line of embarrassing incidents that hurt the image of Americans all around the world, is it really shocking that many of his base supporters do not care, and cannot be convinced that he is as bad as so many people are warning he is? 

Don't get me wrong: I hope that she is right. Let's hope that the Republicans truly do get trounced across the board in the upcoming election.

All I am saying is that we apparently have not hit the depths enough for a clear majority of American voters to say that enough is enough. As bad as George W. Bush was during his years in the White House, Trump has astonishingly been far worse. He has revealed himself to be a racist numerous times, including an incident just yesterday. He has made universally unpopular decisions that have earned him the contempt and condemnation of most around the entire world. The United States was still the leading superpower of the world when he was first elected, and now, that status is being questioned and scrutinized over and over again, since many have observed that no one is looking to American leadership during this whole Covid-19 crisis. He demonstrably lies and misleads as a rule, he has touted his own accomplishments while producing virtually nothing in terms of results, thus reinforcing the suspicion that he was just a snake oil salesman all along. He has polarized the country like perhaps never before, and certainly unlike anything that we have seen in modern history, and that is saying something. In his still less than four short years in office, he has made many around the world revile and distrust the United States, he has lost traditional political alliances, he has widened the economic gap in the country, he has made pollution and destruction of the environment so easy that it seems that he is actively encouraging it, and he has completely mishandled the coronavirus crisis. 

And it still might not be enough for Americans as a whole to wake up and demand that he gets out of the office that he never seriously belonged in to begin with. 

Let's hope that I am wrong. 

Opinions Republicans finally realize Trump will drag them under Washington Post Op/Ed Piece by Jennifer Rubin, May 11, 2020:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/11/republicans-finally-realize-trump-will-drag-them-under/?fbclid=IwAR2828w8rGsg_aAHIB77_qOMawfLCaDUksX0T2q8wcbF4-jDl2vrq8zYnhM