You gotta give GOP lawmakers credit—they're not just amoral or corrupt or whatever it is that is leading them to give Donald Trump a free pass on everything from Russia to his mental fitness to his completely unethical and arguably illegal conduct in office, they're also stupid. Here's the guy they're in lockstep with:
President Donald Trump is the most unpopular president [entering his second year in office], and it's not even a close fight.
Presidents generally have had an average approval rating of 53 percent since 1938 to 2018, according to historical comparisons compiled this week by Gallup. But Trump's approval rating dropped to 37 percent this week, down from 39 percent in December.
Obama's average entering year two: 49 percent. George W. Bush's: 84 percent (he got the 9/11 bump). Clinton's: 55 percent. Yeah, so 37 percent is, "like," abysmal (I apologize for coopting Trump's genius vernacular).
Anyway, that's the guy Republicans are clinging to like white on rice. Whatever 2018 agenda they thought they pounded out at Camp David last weekend, CNN writes, their midterm platform is set.
The first has been to align more closely with Trump even as questions have mounted about both his basic fitness for the presidency and the potential legal exposure that he and his inner circle might face in the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller. The second has been to pursue a policy agenda, on issues from taxes to health care to the environment, aimed almost entirely at the preferences of their party's conservative base, with strikingly few concessions to any voices or interests beyond their core coalition. [...]
On each front, Republicans are placing the highest priority on maximizing unity and enthusiasm among their base voters -- even at the price of infuriating and energizing Democrats, and antagonizing more swing voters -- especially suburban college-educated whites. For voters anywhere on the continuum from ambivalent to alarmed about Trump, congressional Republicans are now sending a clear signal that they are far more inclined to empower than to constrain him.
The word “toast” comes to mind.