If you’re as fond of our faux President as I am, and why else would you be here, the fun just never ends these days. A couple of days ago it was reported on MSNBC that Nate Silver at 538.com had crunched some numbers after the KS-04 election and determined that if every congressional district showed a +23 or so improvement for Democrats, they would pick up something like 122 seats in 2018. May it hold. Yesterday there was a diary indicating that McConnell is starting to worry about the possibility that another lackluster showing in GA next Tuesday could make it more difficult for the GOP to find quality talent to run for the Senate the midterms for Democratic held seats they’ve targeted. Then there was my DIARY about European ally intelligence services advising US intelligence all the way back in late 2015 of interactions between Trump associates and Russian intelligence assets.
And now, it appears that the unbeatable candidate, the most popular and beloved man of all time, with the bestest, most loyal voters of all time may be hitting a speed bump. And the thought of it couldn’t make me happier.
Politico is REPORTING that some of the shine may be coming off of the ass of Trump’s polyester pants. Turns out that some of his supporters have seen him in action for 84 days now, and as Queen Victoria used to say, “We are not amused”. And not just the disaffected rust belt voters that put him over the electoral top. Politico is talking about base, core supporters.
Like anything else that has to do with politics, it’s not just a single factor. Trump seems to be trying to touch all of the bases for offending his purest supporters. Politico talked to about 3 dozen of them, and their grievances were varied, but still deeply felt. The top emotion most of them were feeling seemed to be disappointment. Here’s a sample;
"Donald Trump dropped an emotional anchor. He captured how Americans feel," said Tania Vojvodic, a fervent Trump supporter who founded one of his first campaign volunteer networks. "We expect him to keep his word, and right now he's not keeping his word."…
"I'm not so infatuated with Trump that I can't see the facts," she said. "People's belief, their trust in him, it’s declining."
That last part stuck with me. While these people are disappointed, maybe even furious, they are not deluding themselves into thinking that they’re the only one who feels this way. They are well aware that they were part of a communal experience, and they instinctively feel that those other people will feel as they do. That seems to span the responses, regardless of their personal gripe that has upset and disillusioned them.
And of course, as you might expect, Poor Mr. neo Nazi, li’l Stevie Bannon is in the top 5. Naturally, it wouldn’t be a party without Jello. Here’s just one opinion, from a supporter who drove from Illinois to witness the inauguration, and was later rewarded with a $10,000 check from Trump;
Bouvet also was introduced to Bannon. The two spoke briefly, and Bouvet came to identify with the adviser who, like him, represented a “forgotten America” that Trump had appealed to with his blue-collar pitch. He said in an interview that he still supports the president, but is troubled by reports that Bannon is on the outs and that senior adviser Jared Kushner, a New York City real estate scion, is accumulating influence.
“I see a lot of people upset about his role,” Bouvet said of Bannon.
Notice it again? “A lot of people upset about his role”. These people are not isolated supporters, they are like a fraternity, and they obviously communicate with each other, at least telepathically, and right now, what they’re saying is not necessarily music to Trump’s ear.
One more example that is at the top of the list. All kinds of supporters are tres furious at the Tufted Orange Poodle for lobbing those missiles into Syria. This, to their eyes is a complete betrayal of his so often repeated “America First” isolationist promises. And it’s not just working slobs that are pissed. Conservative media powerhouse talking pie holes like Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham are fuming, and they’re talking about it on the air. This is problematic for Trump. If these popular talking heads are bashing Trump, it gives more approval for supporters who feel the same way. And if they call in to agree with the host, and piss and moan themselves, maybe listeners who were not all that upset get a galloping case of the herd mentality.
Obviously this is not of immediate concern to Trump, he doesn’t run again until 2020, except it does. Trump follows polls and popularity with the intensity that a cloistered nun gives to her bible and rosary. If he starts dropping below his “Base” support number, he’s going to panic. And God knows that McConnell and Ryan will be panic stricken. They already have problems with the incredible activism and anti Trump enthusiasm that was apparent in KS-04. If the Trump base gets dis-spirited enough, and upset enough at Trump’s betrayals to sit out 2018, this could end up being the mother of all tsunami elections, in both houses. To Paraphrase President Obama, “Please proceed Republicans”.