Beaten at the ballot box and facing a legal tsunami of subpoenas and indictments; a cornered President Trump grows ever more erratic.
In the days leading up to the 2018 mid-term elections the president made a conscious decision to focus the election on two issues: immigration and himself. As he crisscrossed the country in the campaign’s final days, his message was clear and succinct. When the president wasn’t fearmongering about the “invasion” and “infestation” of “MS-13 gang members and Middle Easterners” that made up the caravan of refugees heading toward our southern border, he was telling anyone who would listen that a vote for their local Republican candidate was tantamount to a vote for Trump. At every stop along the campaign trail Trump would exhort his loyal followers: “A vote for (Fill in name of local GOP candidate) is a vote for me!”
GOP leadership pleaded with Trump to focus on the economy and job growth. But Trump was having none of it. Immigration and Trump; that was the winning message. Of this the president was certain.
The voters were not persuaded. Unlike 2016 when moderate Republicans and like minded Democrats held their nose and voted for Trump; 2018 voters resoundingly rejected the president and his divisive message.
In the largest “Blue Wave” since Watergate, Democrats flipped 7 governor mansions, 333 state government seats and 37 congressional seats. Democrats won from sea to shinning sea. When the dust cleared Democrats had stormed through New England taking 21 of 21 congressional races and 11 0f 12 senate contests. Orange County, California, once a stronghold of Reagan Republicanism and a bastion of pro-Trumpism in 2016, was now a sea of Democratic blue. Democrat candidates across the country had won the popular vote by 8%.
Perhaps no race better exemplifies the embarrassment that Democrats heaped on Trump than the race for Senator Jeff Flake’s vacated seat in deep red Arizona.
Flake had been outspoken in his criticism of Trump’s divisive and inflammatory rhetoric. He even wrote a book lambasting the president for his attacks on the country’s cornerstone institutions. All while voting with Trump over 98% of the time.
Trump’s rebuttal to Flake’s criticism was unmerciful. He damaged Flake so thoroughly that Flake realized he has no chance of winning re-election in his very pro-Trump state. Flake announced that he would not seek another term.
Republicans nominated Arizona’s 2nd district congresswomen, Martha McSally to run for Flake’s seat. McSally fully embraced Trumpism on the trail. At the end of the day, Democrats not only defeated McSally for Flake’s senate seat; they took the congressional seat McSally had given up to make her senate run. Trump had single handedly cost his party a Senate seat and a House seat in the reddest of states.
Trump had publicly made the mid-terms a referendum about himself; and lost. Democrats now controlled the House and with that the power of the subpoena and the power of the purse.
By 11PM election night it was clear that Trump’s world was about to become very, very difficult.
Trump’s reaction to the embarrassing electoral beat down was typical Trump. The obfuscation, false statements, misleading comments and outright lies came non-stop. Trump was clearly rattled by the defeat, and it showed.
Trump nonsensically claimed the mid-term elections were a huge victory for Republicans solely brought about by his personal efforts on the trail. On his highly anticipated trip to Europe an angry Trump embarrassed himself once again when he railed against British Prime Minister, Theresa May and he openly bristled over French President Macron’s negative comments about Trump’s isolationist agenda. Trump heaped more international criticism upon himself by blowing off a scheduled day trip to an American cemetery to honor fallen WWI American military heroes “because it was raining.”
Upon returning to the states Trump couldn’t be bothered to take the 2 mile drive to Arlington Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He did find the time to publicly criticize retired Admiral William McRaven who had spoken out against Trump’s attacks on the media. McRaven served as commander of the forces who captured Saddam Hussein and the Special Ops teams that killed Osama bin Laden. Trump labeled McRaven a “Hillary fan” who was, in Trump’s estimation, “too slow” to find bin Laden. Trump also found the time to travel to California to survey the damage from the raging forest fires that had killed 76 and destroyed 7,000 homes and structures. Trump could not muster up any real sympathy for the dead and missing so he chose to attack the forestry service for what he deemed was their failures in “forest management.” Trump advised the forestry service that the key to fire prevention is an ongoing program of raking away the leaves and brush that allowed the fire to spread.
As the Mueller investigation loomed over his administration; Trump finally got around to answering a list of questions submitted by Mueller for Trump’s written response. Trump falsely claimed that he, not his lawyers, had answered the questions “easily.”
In the wake of the election, Trump sought to deflect attention from the embarrassing political beatdown by firing Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. Trump skipped normal all protocols by hiring Sessions former Chief-of-Staff, Mathew Whitaker as Sessions, temporary replacement. Prior to assisting Sessions, Whitaker served as a political hack who routinely appeared on Fox News for the sole purpose of trashing the Mueller investigation as an unconstitutional witch hunt. Trump, a voracious viewer of Fox News, disingenuously claimed to know nothing of Whitaker’s obvious bias when he made the appointment.
Trump is clearly rattled. The reality of the election results and Mueller’s investigation are taking their toll. Trump’s post election melt-down is a harbinger of things to come.
Come January, when subpoena’s start falling like rain on the Trump White House, we can expect things to get much, much worse.
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