Trump has no ideology beyond his narcissism. He cares nothing about policy or the actual work of the Presidency. He does not read his intelligence briefings. He has to have people explain to the world him in cartoons that have to fit on one page because of his inability to focus attention. He has no idea what is in the constitution of how the government works. He is a laughing-stock in the face of the world. Incompetence is not even close to how much of a disaster Trump is.
Trump is now even losing support among his base. But I think it will take unit at least the 2018 mid-terms before his strongest supports realize that all his promises (jobs, health care, the Muslim-Ban, the Mexico Wall) will NEVER be fulfilled.
What we know today:
The Russian Connection
It is a fact that Russia interfered with our election. There are ties to Russia among some of Trump's present and former advisers (Flynn, Manafort and now Kushner). This diagram is an excellent source to help explain it all. At this point it is not clear how much of this has potential legal ramifications. The investigation is on-going. But the political impact is becoming clearer. My expectation is that there are significant ties to Trump's business interests with Russia.
Obstruction of Justice
Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey and his admission that he fired Comey to stop the investigation into the Russian-Trump ties mind-boggling. The day Comey testifies before Congress will be quite an important and potentially earth-shaking day. Lots more to be investigated here.
Trump's appointment of a new FBI Director will test the Republicans to ensure that the person is NOT a political appointee.
Trump's appointment of a new FBI Director will test the Republicans to ensure that the person is NOT a political appointee.
"But whether the President's conduct is or is not within the letter of the law is irrelevant; there's a really good reason why, for generations, presidents from across the ideological spectrum have respected the principle of not interfering in federal criminal investigations. That President Trump seems wholly indifferent to this principle, or the potentially devastating consequences of its demise, is the real scandal here." - Steve Vladeck, CNN legal analyst and professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law.
Lies vs. BS
At a certain point all of Trump's lies will come back to haunt him because his credibility will be close to zero. This opinion post helps to separate Trump's use of BS which gets to the essence of how all of this erodes any trust the public, government and the world may have in him. His BS basically tries to cover up the truth.What is the future?
Trump resigns - It's hard to believe that he would ever give up and resign. The White House is now in permanent crisis mode. This means that nothing is going to get done on Trump's legislative agenda while the investigation is on-going. That's a good thing considering his specific legislative agenda.
However, we need to be fearful what happens in the foreign policy area.
Trump dies in office - He does not exercise or diet. He lives on junk food. Stress level is high. Who knows?
Removal under 25th amendment - Not going to happen under a Republican Congress unless there is some major world event that the entire country believes Trump cannot manage.
Impeachment - Won't happen unless there is a Democratic congress elected in 2018. Republicans will start to jump ship if the mid-terms are a disaster for them.
Trump Finishes one-term and is defeated for re-election
