The good news–and there is good news–is that the administration’s poll numbers are down. Several factors are driving the decline: The economy is fading, the president is doing things that are both unpopular and not what he campaigned on and, quite likely, all but his core is getting tired of his shtick.
Also, there is a non-zero chance that he is a pedophile. That never helps a person’s popularity.
This begs a very important questions: Going forward do his job and popularity levels actually matter? Does an individual with immense power and allies in high places need to listen to the people? Will enough of his more tentative allies break away to make a difference?
Like so many things in the Trump era, we just do not know. He has two types of supporters (with, of course, much overlap): People who blindly follow him and people who aren’t fond of him but are getting too much of what they want to withdraw their support.
The cult will remain. Legislators will as well, as long as Trump is perceived to have the power to cost them their jobs with a tweet. Much of the judiciary has done a decent job of pushing back. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court hasn’t.
Not the Kind of Unity We Need
Much of the intellectual right has spent decades pushing something called the unitary executive theory. As the name implies, it vests a tremendous amount of power in the presidency. Clearly, that “creates tension,” as the smart folks say, with the intricate system of checks and balances under which divvy up rights and responsibilities. That’s how we supposedly are governed.
More after the music break…
There are a lot of words that aren’t used any longer. Or still are, but have different connotations. In any case, be ready to be “charmed.” That really the best way of describing Tatiana Eva-Marie and the Avalon Jazz Band’s cover of the classic song “La Mer.”
The cover of “La Mer” is perfect and a nice antidote to the generally challenging (if not downright depressing) subject matter of this site, especially this week. I know that everyone had different tastes, yada, yada. But it’s more or less impossible not to like this. I love it all, but my favorite is the guitarist with the aqua hair.
The song has a long history It was written and performed by a French singer by the name of Charles Trenet who seems to be a lot like Maurice Chevalier. I believe the words were changed when it came to the United States. It was a big hit for Bobby Darin, of course.
Back to politics:
The unitary executive is perilously close to being a king. And, guess what: That is exactly how Trump is acting. He and the rest of the right knows that this is the last best chance they get to implement the unitary executive. It also is the last opportunity to roll back the New Deal and the departments and agencies it made possible, another long-time goal of the right.
It doesn’t matter that most people like what these agencies and departments try to do, though they may complain about how they go about doing it. Many conservative academicians and pundits don’t. They feel that the America in which we all grew up is not what the Founding Fathers wanted. I read the Constitution every few years and see no justification for this.
So we are where we are: A president with sinking approval numbers but without another election to worry about, a conservative intelligentsia getting everything they want or cowed into silence and an electorate beginning to understand that Donald Trump may not be who he said he was.
We are the precipice of great change and great choices. America either will have a king in everything but name or a democracy that has withstood a dire frontal assault. What could be decisive? A bombshell from the Epstein scandal and/or a recession that would push Trump’s approval rating so low that moderate Republicans in the House and Senate would no longer need fear him? A massive number of illnesses and fatalities due to the hollowing out and poorly led Department of Health? More political violence?
Or does none of this matter? The other reality that needs to be faced is that those with the power now have no real intention of giving it up. Donald Trump already quarterbacked one attack on the peaceful transfer of power. There is absolutely no guarantee he won’t do so again. And, if he knows now that he will do that, why should he care about poor polling numbers?
But keep in mind that there isn’t a world in which public opinion doesn’t matter at all. If there was Stalin would not have needed secret police. There are ways that the public will make its presence felt regardless of whether there is a legitimate vote. And, if the will of a majority of the people is egregiously ignored, they can solve the problem themselves.
I am not talking about violence along the lines of what we saw earlier this week. The concept of soft secession (which would be a great name for a band) is generating a tremendous amount of interest. It’s simple but a big step: Blue states setting their own standards and entering into agreements with like-minded states to govern independently of Washington. It’s not a pipe dream. It’s happening.
There clearly is a lot of uncertainty. Nobody has any idea what will happen. It’s impossible to avoid the conclusion that a strong turnout and vote in favor of democracy will set the tone for the fight. We must not allow them to portray us as dispirited, apathetic and weak. More to the point: We must not be dispirited, apathetic and weak.
Please vote in every election.
