I think most people by now think that President Trump
is a bit of a joke. A bad joke. I don’t think he is. He’s a talented guy, but
he does seem awfully insecure. This business of him revealing state security
secrets while bragging to his Russian guests shows that insecurity --- the need
to brag.
I do wonder how the Washington Post knew about it. Trump
has many enemies in what some call the Deep State. These are people that are
entrenched in fairly secure government positions and who are working against
him. Combined with the antagonistic press and various anti-Trump movements
(such as the one organized in a mansion Obama acquired near the White House), the President has a steep uphill battle. I don't know that he has the emotional maturity for it.
These folks want the President impeached. Highly
improbable that it would happen. Republicans control both houses. I suppose that if Trump totally flipped, like
maybe trying to install a mule as a Justice of the Supreme Court, then yeah, he
could be impeached.
William Lyon MacKenzie King was Canada’s longest
serving PM even though he consulted with his dead dog to guide the nation.
Trump will have to do worse to be impeached…..at least until the mid-term elections.
Trump's training, experience and temperament make him ill-suited for the position he now holds. Impeachment depends on where the FBI/Special Counsel investigation goes. If he is charged with obstruction of justice (or one or more of his team is found guilty of collusion with the Russians), there will be a significant number of Republicans who will abandon him in short order (remember, more than a few of them have NEVER liked him - they have only been on board this far because he wears the Republican label). Also, in addition to all of those enemies in the "deep state" and news media, everyone should remember that a clear majority of the folks who voted in the last election did not vote for him. And, since it is not in his nature to be humble, compromise with his enemies or seek the support of those who disagree with him, I don't think that bravado and counterattacks are going to be sufficient to sustain or save his presidency. Moreover, even if no one is able to deliver a knock out blow, unless Trump has supernatural powers, he is very likely to eventually succumb to the thousand cuts which will almost certainly continue to come his way.
ReplyDeleteI wonder at the damage that can be done in the meantime. Angela Merkel has recently stressed what an unreliable ally the USA is now. She has got to be one of the most level-headed, intelligent world leaders in my lifetime. Humble and unpretentious and a dedicated servant, it seems to me. But no pushover. Will Germany decide they need to rebuild their military?
DeleteMexico has put up with the Trump treatment. He has complained about the flood of "bad hombres" coming from Mexico, when, at least according to Atlantic Monthly, more Mexicans leave the USA than arrive in it. He has been so demeaning as to suggest they can be suckered or cowed into paying for the wall behind which Trump wants to confine them. Mexico chooses a new president next year. The current one cannot run for another term. The new guy might open up Mexico's southern border to the flood of folks from Guatemala to Nicaragua who have wanted to make their way to the USA through Mexico. Mexico has refused entry to multitudes as a courtesy to the USA, but may stop doing that. China, with an average manufacturing labor wage of $3.60 per hour has companies that would like to build in Mexico where the average manufacturing labor wage is only $2.10 hourly. Thus far, Mexico has blocked the Chinese, out of respect for their American allies. Intelligence agencies of the Mexico and the USA co-operate deeply and extensively. Mexico can pull the plug on that too.
If Europe and Mexico retaliate for Trump's efforts to unwind the European Union and for his denigration of Mexico respectively, the USA will be hurting, and some of that surely has to land on his back.