I Am Somewhat Relieved and Hopeful

[Dr. Jack]

If you look around the cyber and the internets today you will see one of the major stories is that few people actually showed up for Trumps "End of thr Republic D.C. Celebration 2017". It looks like about 1/8th of what Obama got in 2009 and about 1/3rd as many people as trump was expecting. Combine that with his 37% approval rating and suddenly I feel a sense of relief.


No we arent out of the woods by any means but this experiment of "lets see what happens if a 5 year old tries running the country" might not be as bad as it could have been. Coming into office while being so unpopular will help limit some of the damage he can do. The less people like him the more marginalized he will be and the less willing other people in washington will be to go along with his dumb ideas. Combine that with the fact that he doesnt have a clue how to get things done in the political world will likely mean he is less tyrannical and more paralyzed and isolated.

If there were massive crowds today and his approval rating was even mediocre as opposed to historically awful, i would be extremely worried. Instead I am more dismayed that progress is going to stop for a few years and the government will grind to halt. Sure they will put some terrible laws into place but without a mandate or popular backing, trumps presidency may end up being as impotent as....well...Donald Trump

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I hope you're right, Dr. Jack.

But I don't know.

And the Republican "leadership" will push him hard to back what THEY want, the programs and ideas that they can't wait to implement.

We are truly facing the abyss........and it has no floor.

[NightWatcher]

2. And when the repukes try to impeach him in a year or so, Dems must vote against impeachment

Let him be a millstone tied to the neck of the repuke party. Let him damage their brand.

Oh, and resist, resist, resist!

[csziggy]

3. That might be true if it weren't for the Supreme Court

Trump is probably going to nominate someone horrific to take Scalia's place. If we're really unlucky and Ruth Bader Ginsberg or even another justice passes away he could nominate one or two more justices.

That would stack the Supreme Court with conservative or even ultra right wing justices for a generation.Even if Democrats got back control of Congress and the Executive branch an ultra conservative weighted court could neuter any advances we might try to make.

[Dr. Jack]

5. Well Scalia was no angel

There will hardly be a significant change if some other right wing asshole replaces him. As for other picks...well lets hope the dems maintain a united front. They have little reason to cooperate if trump would replace an ultra liberal with some right wing asshole. He needs dems to get any picks through. The pukes have the barest of a majority in the senate. Unless the democrats get frightened by trump and his 25% approval rating, they wont play ball

[csziggy]

10. We should have had a moderate justice with Merritt Garland

While he was not a flaming liberal I'm sure he would have been saner than anything Trump will put in.

I have a feeling that the moderate Republicans that are left in this country will be dismayed by what Trump and his cohorts will do to the Supreme Court and to the rest of the country.

[anarch]

4. these are good points, but a great deal of damage is already done

Got to hand it to Putin...this whole situation has been masterfully played.

As for America, well...I'll hope that we don't descend into absolute chaos and/or outright civil war, but I think we're pretty much done as a global superpower. Maybe the long-term outcome will be a net positive, but for the foreseeable future I think we're mostly going to be a punch line to a bad joke.

[MadamPresident]

6. I wish I could be.

Because none of that matters to these people. They're going to ram through their ugly, fascist oligarch agenda no matter what anyone thinks or says because they don't have to care what anyone thinks or says. They own it all and they're going to make sure everyone knows it. They'll never have this opportunity again and they're going to make the pain strong and lasting.


We can fight and we will but it's hard to battle from such a weak position. We're far weaker than they were in '09. We couldn't use the power correctly because of our sellout wing. They'll have no such problem.


Sorry to be a wet mop.

[Dr. Jack]

7. They can try but a few things to keep in mind

1. They have an unpopular novice running their party. Its difficult to get things done when you are popular in washington but extremely unpopular? Ask W how that worked for him during his second term

2. There are still hundreds of dems in power in washington. They can try to ram things through but the dems can gunk up the works if they feel like it

3. We are not weaker than the gop in 2009. Their boy lost by 8 million votes. Our candidate won by 3 million. They had 40 seats in the senate, we have 48. The democrats are much stronger and more united than the republcians were 8 years ago.

4. The next election will be in full swing sooner than we might realize and if trump maintains his unpopularity, republicans are going to run for the hills to try to save their own skin. Paralysis and dysfunction will define this era, not autocratic rule.


Trump will be an albatross around the necks of the republicans and soon he will be an isolated, loathed figure in both parties. The dems have no incentive to work with him or the republicans. Things will grind to a halt as soon as any of their unpopular facist shit comes up and the democrats will be able to point out that they stopped it.

[Kingofalldems]

11. So many of your posts about how Trump is in charge and there is nothing we can do.

I have noticed this MadamPresident, and it sure looks like taunting from here.

[erpowers]

8. George W. Bush

In 2001, many Democrats thought George W. Bush would be more cautious because he had lost the popular vote for 500,000 votes. When Bush took office he acted as if he had a large mandate. He pushed all of the policies he wanted and attacked Democrats when they tried to block. On some occasions he even attacked Democrats when it was Republicans who were trying to block his agenda.

I would not be surprised if Trump acted the same. Trump has the benefit of having both the House and Senate controlled by Republicans.

[Dr. Jack]

9. During his first year he didnt get shit done

It wasnt until 9/11 that he was actually relevant. That shit doesnt work unless you are popular. Trump aint and I find it unlikely that an event like 9/11 would help cheesedick like it did with bush. Americans are much more hardened and partisan these days. No one on the left would rally to him like in 2001.