Now answer this question: How or why did Trump win?
If Trump wins it will be because of four key factors:
(1) The helpful backdrop of a good economy (e.g. low unemployment). Which I hasten to add, presidents deserve little to no credit for - whether it’s Trump or anyone else.
(2) A core 40% or so of voters who provide a hard “floor” to his polling numbers, who would, in Trump’s own (and in this case accurate) words, continue to support him even if he shot someone dead in the middle of 5th Avenue. I am very sorry to say that about 40% of this country has decided that as long as corruption and rampant lying is a weapon employed in their (perceived) favor, and as long as the collateral damage is done to “others” (immigrants, people of color, etc.) they are willing to overlook it.
(3) The mature adults - from all political stripes, but mostly Republican - who have worked furiously within Trump’s administration to
protect him from himself. Examples include:
- Rex Tillerson telling Trump what he was asking to do is illegal and Trump ultimately firing him for it;
- John Kelly telling Trump his replacement shouldn’t be a “yes man” who only tells him what he wants to hear, or he’ll end up getting impeached;
- His staff not carrying out orders to pass along directives to fire Bob Mueller;
- Jeff Sessions recusing himself and refusing to end the Russia inquiry;
- John Bolton and others trying to stymie the efforts by Guiliani (at the behest of Trump) to abuse US military aid as a cudgel by Trump to score domestic political points;
(4) A sufficiently far-left wing Democratic nominee, or one who can be painted as such. This will provide the very lame and misguided, but much sought after, excuse needed by a sliver of the population who know Trump is a swamp monster but can’t get over their hatred of left-wing politics.
