CNN presidential historian predicts public support for Trump will collapse

[bilo]

The public is tired of the shenanigans from the left and their refusal to do what's in the best interest of this country, all in part because that can't get over losing to Trump.  I can only image their ire when he wins re-election.  Meanwhile, the DC country club continues to plot how they can oust Trump; in essence disregarding the will of the people.

The economy has experienced an upswing; unemployment is way down, Black and Hispanic unemployment are at historic lows, finally new portions of the wall are being built, illegal immigration has been curbed (to a degree), alliance with Israel rekindled, our military is being rebuilt and our country is once again respected. Trump is not without flaw, but he has moved this country in a more positive direction then we've seen in a long time.

Pretty hard for the leftist to compete with their platform of socialism.

 

[Chosen Daughter]

I'm just one of The People, but I'm sick and tired of a Congress which has spent three years digging for a crime, any crime, even a parking ticket, on this POTUS while blatantly ignoring the egregious crimes of the previous administration, and the business at hand. It's the same jibber-jabber all over the news, in between the same calls for us to divest ourselves of our fundamental civil rights while we're being told, in essence, that the 'rights' of specific groups are 'enhanced and protected'.

Vote the b@st@rds out, every stinking one of them. I am sure there is some enemy, foreign or domestic, they have given aid and comfort to.

Congress should never have fallen to those b@st@rds. 

[Hoodat]

Congress should never have fallen to those b@st@rds.

Which bastards?   The Republican bastards, or the Democrat bastards?

[Smokin Joe]

Congress should never have fallen to those b@st@rds.

Well, for all the talk of a "blue wave", the midterm dead cat bounce by the party which did not win the White House was pretty tepid, and that largely due to targeted districts and a biased media (and the usual voter fraud).
It was far from a mandate, and historically unimpressive (not that the media hasn't, once again, given it more significance than it was due).

Unfortunately, those from the Right of the Marxists got complacent, something we've seen before.

What America needs is a clear rejection of this crap by cleaning house and dumping the Dems off a short pier..

[bilo]

Well, for all the talk of a "blue wave", the midterm dead cat bounce by the party which did not win the White House was pretty tepid, and that largely due to targeted districts and a biased media (and the usual voter fraud).
It was far from a mandate, and historically unimpressive (not that the media hasn't, once again, given it more significance than it was due).

Unfortunately, those from the Right of the Marxists got complacent, something we've seen before.

What America needs is a clear rejection of this crap by cleaning house and dumping the Dems off a short pier..

I don't think it was Pubs being lazy. It was the failure of the House to get the big things done, a lot of retirements and voters falling for the Rat line that they were moderates.

[Applewood]

I don't really see the impeachment changing anyone's mind.  Trump's supporters will still follow him to the gates of hell, while those who don't like him will still not like him  This impeachment is a farce, a political stunt.  It was meant to bring more voters to the democrats next year and the Republicans are using it to keep the faithful in the fold.   I don't know that it will attract more voters to either party, but it will allow each party to keep the voters it has.

However, I wonder what will it take for Trump to lose supporters. So far, whatever has gone wrong with Trump has been successfully blamed on others.  I think whatever it is will be calamitous to them.  The question will be -- can he blame it on someone else and get away with it?

[skeeter]

I don't really see the impeachment changing anyone's mind.  Trump's supporters will still follow him to the gates of hell, while those who don't like him will still not like him  This impeachment is a farce, a political stunt.  It was meant to bring more voters to the democrats next year and the Republicans are using it to keep the faithful in the fold.   I don't know that it will attract more voters to either party, but it will allow each party to keep the voters it has.

However, I wonder what will it take for Trump to lose supporters. So far, whatever has gone wrong with Trump has been successfully blamed on others.  I think whatever it is will be calamitous to them.  The question will be -- can he blame it on someone else and get away with it?

Could it not be possible there are normal people out there - maybe a whole lot of them - who have a grasp on reality and have rational reasons for supporting Trump, or are they all cultist in your mind?

[Applewood]

Could it not be possible there are normal people out there - maybe a whole lot of them - who have a grasp on reality and have rational reasons for supporting Trump, or are they all cultist in your mind?

Putting aside the cult members -- and most of the supporters I have encountered fall into that category -- the few who say they don't like him personally tell me they will continue to vote for him because he is the lesser of two evils -- or something similar.  In my view that is not a rational reason to support him. 

And by continuing to vote for him, I'd say they don't have a grasp on reality.    The reality is that Trump is an awful president.  He is not an improvement over the rest. 

[Snarknado]

Putting aside the cult members -- and most of the supporters I have encountered fall into that category -- the few who say they don't like him personally tell me they will continue to vote for him because he is the lesser of two evils -- or something similar.  In my view that is not a rational reason to support him. 

And by continuing to vote for him, I'd say they don't have a grasp on reality.    The reality is that Trump is an awful president.  He is not an improvement over the rest.

So it would be more rational to vote for the greater of two evils. I must have a different definition of "rational"...

[skeeter]

So it would be more rational to vote for the greater of two evils. I must have a different definition of "rational"...

The definition of irrational is to refuse to support the lessor of two evils.

"Taxol is poisonous, so I'll just skip the chemo"

[Mesaclone]

Putting aside the cult members -- and most of the supporters I have encountered fall into that category -- the few who say they don't like him personally tell me they will continue to vote for him because he is the lesser of two evils -- or something similar.  In my view that is not a rational reason to support him. 

And by continuing to vote for him, I'd say they don't have a grasp on reality.    The reality is that Trump is an awful president.  He is not an improvement over the rest.

“Rational”.  As the very astute Inigo Montoya once said “I don’t think you know what that word means”.

If a train is coming at you on one track, and a pack of Bassett Hounds on another, is it not rational to run with the Bassett’s rather than be crushed by the oncoming train? The answer seems obvious, both in my little analogy and in reality. But hey, what those with TDS consider to be “reason” is a mystery to the sane.

[Smokin Joe]

I don't think it was Pubs being lazy. It was the failure of the House to get the big things done, a lot of retirements and voters falling for the Rat line that they were moderates.

"Moderate" is a term meaningless without context.
When the 'left' is raving Marxist, mere screwball batcrap crazy Leftist seems 'moderate' in comparison.

Of course, the MSM have been beating their little drum 24/7 to make it seem as if nothing is getting done, and in many instances, they are right. The next best thing to a primary challenge was to oust the incumbent, by any means available, and staying home worked in some districts.
Of course, I expect a rash of sexual advances to be unearthed and dusted off next election, not to mention halloween costumes from long ago, and any utterance from the first gurgle that can be twisted to be offensive to the plethora of "protected" groups out there, basically anyone but straight Caucasian Christian employed males, to be dumped in the last couple of weeks of the election.

Unfortunately, like a dog returning to its vomit, the voters will be fooled again. (Hopefully not, but if the past is any indication).

[Smokin Joe]

Putting aside the cult members -- and most of the supporters I have encountered fall into that category -- the few who say they don't like him personally tell me they will continue to vote for him because he is the lesser of two evils -- or something similar.  In my view that is not a rational reason to support him. 

And by continuing to vote for him, I'd say they don't have a grasp on reality.    The reality is that Trump is an awful president.  He is not an improvement over the rest.

The single most noteworthy improvement from the cheap seats is the final go-ahead for the DAPL, which had been delayed by protestors (even though the pipeline did not cross Indian Land, the route was thoroughly checked out in regards to cultural assets and changed to avoid disturbing such sites over 100 times, and the pipeline was to go 90 feet below the bottom of the lake in question, not even as close to the water as the protesters.
Obama had that project held up for months, Trump shut down that nonsense.
That pipeline currently carries over a half million barrels of oil a day from this region to refineries.
I can't say how much that has meant for this state, nor the country, but when you look at a gas pump and the price is down from nearly $5 to about half that (in many places less), Trump was part of that.
I'm not a fan of the Ethanol mandate, though and he supported that.
So, it's a mixed bag.
As for Hillary in Irons, unlikely in the current environment, especially because the Dems did their pre-emptive strike to put the Administration on Defensive (Who saw that coming? about all of us who have watched their tactics, and the media are the standard bearers.)
While the Democrats in Congress (well, communists, and that's most of the Democrats) are a threat to the Republic, the MSM is greater.
Trump is better than Hillary would have been, but that is a low bar, and at least Hillary would have had the 'pubbies up at arms and vigilant instead of complacent. I think the Dems are screwing up, the more they attack Trump, the more people feel compelled to defend him. That won't end well for the Dems, I believe, unless they've got the voter fraud thing tuned like a top fuel dragster.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Putting aside the cult members -- and most of the supporters I have encountered fall into that category -- the few who say they don't like him personally tell me they will continue to vote for him because he is the lesser of two evils -- or something similar.  In my view that is not a rational reason to support him.

@Applewood

You're taking a shorthand phrase -- "lesser of two evils" -- and pretending that it is the entirety of the argument.  That's just another version of a strawman attack.

Trump has done some truly good -- even very good -- things, such as massive tax reform, regulatory reform, and judicial appointments.  Actually, I'd give him "A's on all that, and most of his supporters I know generally agree with that.  I personally didn't expect the first two to be as dramatic and positive as they'd been.  He's also done as much as was reasonably possible on immigration, and that is picking up steam as key decisions have finally wound their way up to the Supreme Court.  I was pretty much convinced he'd cave early on...but he didn't.  And his willingness to fight (and win) those cases in the courts have been critical.

To me, a "lesser of two evils" guy would have increased taxes, increased regulation, and appointed slightly less left-wing judges.  But that's not what Trump did -- he reduced taxes, reduced regulation, and appointed more conservative judges.  That's not "lesser of two evils", but an affirmative good.

Of course there are downsides as well that have been discussed exhaustively, but that being said, I believe they're outweighed by the good he has done.  He's literally been the most conservative Republican President on all those issues in more than three decades.

I'll take a guy who says the wrong things but does the right thing 100 times out of 100 over the typical Republican who says the right thing but does the wrong thing.

[truth_seeker]

The purpose from Day One, is to weaken harrass, possibly remove Trump.

He has appointed over 150 lifetime judges, aand two SC justices, droppede the health care individual mandate. and other stuff.

[aligncare]

@Maj. Bill Martin ...just a waste of breath. There are some here who will never concede that they were wrong. The leftist have been 100 percent wrong about Trump from the very beginning and some on the right voluntarily join the left in their erroneous assessment of President Trump. Pride is a stubborn thing.

[Smokin Joe]

@Applewood

You're taking a shorthand phrase -- "lesser of two evils" -- and pretending that it is the entirety of the argument.  That's just another version of a strawman attack.

Trump has done some truly good -- even very good -- things, such as massive tax reform, regulatory reform, and judicial appointments.  Actually, I'd give him "A's on all that, and most of his supporters I know generally agree with that.  I personally didn't expect the first two to be as dramatic and positive as they'd been.  He's also done as much as was reasonably possible on immigration, and that is picking up steam as key decisions have finally wound their way up to the Supreme Court.  I was pretty much convinced he'd cave early on...but he didn't.  And his willingness to fight (and win) those cases in the courts have been critical.

To me, a "lesser of two evils" guy would have increased taxes, increased regulation, and appointed slightly less left-wing judges.  But that's not what Trump did -- he reduced taxes, reduced regulation, and appointed more conservative judges.  That's not "lesser of two evils", but an affirmative good.

Of course there are downsides as well that have been discussed exhaustively, but that being said, I believe they're outweighed by the good he has done.  He's literally been the most conservative Republican President on all those issues in more than three decades.

I'll take a guy who says the wrong things but does the right thing 100 times out of 100 over the typical Republican who says the right thing but does the wrong thing.

Don't wave tax reform at me. By the end of the year, I will have over 20K miles that I have to pay taxes on the fuel, repairs, maintenance of the vehicles because my form 2106 deductions were thrown away, along with the cost of staying far from home to do my job. Thanks a lot. I got screwed, as did anyone else who must put miles on a personal vehicle in order to do their job. That isn't a selling point with me at all (paying taxes on expenses).
"Most conservative in 30 years" isn't saying a hell of a lot. That's a low bar with globalist criminals and cryptomuslims in office for much of that, oh, and Bushes.

I'm not saying he's all bad, but please, don't gush about his overwhelming virtue. I'm just not seeing it.
It's a long way from where things should be, and that's the mark I use to decide.
The Dems are considerably farther from that mark, but let's not consider being only chest deep in the manure pile such a wonderful situation. There's a lot more room for improvement. 

[roamer_1]

“Rational”.  As the very astute Inigo Montoya once said “I don’t think you know what that word means”.

If a train is coming at you on one track, and a pack of Bassett Hounds on another, is it not rational to run with the Bassett’s rather than be crushed by the oncoming train? The answer seems obvious, both in my little analogy and in reality. But hey, what those with TDS consider to be “reason” is a mystery to the sane.

Step 4 ft off the tracks, and guess what...

[Hoodat]

I'll take a guy who says the wrong things but does the right thing 100 times out of 100 over the typical Republican who says the right thing but does the wrong thing.

As will I.  But Trump is nowhere near being a 100-out-of-100 type of guy.  Sure, he passed a tax cut.  But what we need is tax fairness.  As long as a majority of the working American public pays no income taxes, the ones that do remain slaves to those that do not.  Anyone working should be held accountable to the excesses of government by paying income tax at the same rate as everyone else.

As for the judiciary, yes Trump has done a good job at appointing judges even though he was very slow out of the gate his first year.  McConnell has been a huge help as was Harry Reid with his rules change.

But the greatest threat we as a nation face (and the one Trump has ignored the most) is the budget deficit.  Current growth rates will continue to suffer as long as we continue sucking $1+ trillion annually out of the economy to fund deficit spending.  Balance the budget, and you will see annual growth rates of 7+ percent for years.  But Trump has shown zero inclination to cut spending.  Even with the decreased demand for social programs, Trump has still found a way to spend every last dollar that Congress appropriated.

[DB]

@Maj. Bill Martin ...just a waste of breath. There are some here who will never concede that they were wrong. The leftist have been 100 percent wrong about Trump from the very beginning and some on the right voluntarily join the left in their erroneous assessment of President Trump. Pride is a stubborn thing.

Go look in the mirror.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

As will I.  But Trump is nowhere near being a 100-out-of-100 type of guy.  Sure, he passed a tax cut.  But what we need is tax fairness.  As long as a majority of the working American public pays no income taxes, the ones that do remain slaves to those that do not.  Anyone working should be held accountable to the excesses of government by paying income tax at the same rate as everyone else.

As for the judiciary, yes Trump has done a good job at appointing judges even though he was very slow out of the gate his first year.  McConnell has been a huge help as was Harry Reid with his rules change.

But the greatest threat we as a nation face (and the one Trump has ignored the most) is the budget deficit.  Current growth rates will continue to suffer as long as we continue sucking $1+ trillion annually out of the economy to fund deficit spending.  Balance the budget, and you will see annual growth rates of 7+ percent for years.  But Trump has shown zero inclination to cut spending.  Even with the decreased demand for social programs, Trump has still found a way to spend every last dollar that Congress appropriated.

The biggest driver of deficits by far are the entitlement programs -- Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.  And from what I've seen, many of the geezers who tend to support conservative principles in general balk at anything that would diminish those government checks.  I don't think Trump should be blamed for the American people themselves being unwilling to support significant entitlement reform.

[Hoodat]

The biggest driver of deficits by far are the entitlement programs -- Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.  And from what I've seen, many of the geezers who tend to support conservative principles in general balk at anything that would diminish those government checks.

I didn't vote for those geezers.  I voted for someone who would do what is right for the country.

I don't think Trump should be blamed for the American people themselves being unwilling to support significant entitlement reform.

Ah, straight from the Pontius Pilate Guide to Government.  Leadership isn't about giving the masses what they want.  Leadership is about doing what is right.  And it is morally unconscionable to spend money that you don't have now and expect people who aren't even born yet to pay for it.

[Smokin Joe]

Step 4 ft off the tracks, and guess what...

Some basset will try to push you back on 

[sneakypete]

I didn't vote for those geezers.  I voted for someone who would do what is right for the country.

@Hoodat

With "the country" mostly being defined as you,personally,right?

[Maj. Bill Martin]

I didn't vote for those geezers.  I voted for someone who would do what is right for the country.

The problem is that neither Trump nor anyone else can "do what's right for the country" if the mass of the voting public disagrees with it strongly enough.  Congress simply won't go along with it. Even here, among self-professed conservatives, there was a lot of opposition to Ryan's plan on entitlements.

Leadership is about doing what is right.  And it is morally unconscionable to spend money that you don't have now and expect people who aren't even born yet to pay for it.

That's why entitlement programs are so insidious -- they don't require yearly appropriations to fund them.  So it's not the Trump himself spends the money for them - it's that the money is spent automatically unless Congress votes to stop it.  Which...they won't.