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During the last presidential campaign, there was a good deal of speculation of just how bad Donald Trump would be if he succeeded in winning re-election. We have our answer.
He was worse than anyone imagined.
Even the most seemingly outrageous estimates of the damage he could perpetrate have not approached the destruction he has wrought in one short year and threatens to intensify in the next three. Who, for example, would have predicted that he would turn the White House into a theme park or treat the Kennedy Center as just another fire hydrant on which to urinate? We knew he was petty, but that petty? An American president?
And those acts are trivial—a clown show—paling in comparison to the genuine harm he has done to the nation both internally and with our standing in the world. And, of course, he could not have wreaked nearly this much havoc without the support of a sniveling Congress, a hypocritical Supreme Court, a cadre of soulless, perfidious appointees, and a slew of venal, willing enablers across the nation.
Hillary Clinton was correct, it seems. Trump’s supporters and apologists are indeed a basket of deplorables. Perhaps some of them could have once been forgiven for being taken in by his promises or believing that the Democrats were ruining the country, but anyone who continues to support this loathsome narcissist who has now left no doubt that he cares only for himself has become complicit in his crimes…and they are crimes…against the nation.
Yet, those of you who follow these posts know that I have become cautiously…very cautiously…optimistic about the coming elections in November.
I remain so. The trick will be making it that far.
Whether we can do so will depend on the result of a conflict between two opposing forces. The first is the steady erosion of Trump’s support both in Congress and among the electorate and the second is his headlong escalation of dictatorial ambitions both domestically and in foreign affairs. The second seems, at least in part, to be a reaction to the first, so Trump is likely not unaware that his drive toward fûhrerdom is not assured.
As his somewhat miserable poll numbers indicate, Trump’s biggest problem is his failure to improve the economy. He has, in fact, made it worse, especially for the voting blocs that put him in office.
There has been a good deal of coverage about middle-class families’ inability to improve their quality of life, but many of those families have the additional problem of being unable to pay for things they thought they already owned. Credit card debt, which is soaring, is a case in point. “According to the New York Fed, 12.4 percent of credit card debt in Q3 2025 was seriously delinquent, i.e. at least 90 days late,” which is the highest since the beginning of 2011, “when people were still reeling from the aftermath of the Great Recession.”
Mortgage delinquencies remain low but are growing, with the largest increases being in the Trump-country South, and projections indicate further increases in the coming years. Utility rates are surging as AI data centers use more and more power, with Georgians having been hit with six rate increases in only two years. Food prices remain stubbornly high and purchasing a new home, even with lower mortgage rates, remains out of reach for many younger buyers.
And the explosion in Obamacare premiums hasn’t even been factored in yet.
But many wealthier Americans might be blissfully unaware of the price pressures on their fellow citizens. Like the nation as whole, we are splitting into two economies, one for the well-to-do and the other for the middle and working classes. The stock market continues to hit new highs and the United States has just concluded a robust Christmas shopping season, topping $1 trillion for the first time. But that number reflects substantially higher prices and spending very much skewed to the upper classes. Other groups, who generated their spending in thrift stores, actually spent less than they did a year ago.
Trump’s supporters, once stubbornly oblivious, may be catching on. When voters were given the opportunity to voice their displeasure last November, they did so in resounding fashion and resulted in a huge win for Democrats, from governors’ races down to school board elections.
With the loss of voting support, Republicans in Congress, faced with the prospect of losing their majority and in some cases their cushy jobs, have begun to exhibit just a soupçon of independence. Just last week, five senators, including, of all people, the rodent-like Josh Hawley, infuriated Trump by voting to limit his authority under the War Powers Act. In another atypical vote, seventeen House Republicans, most from swing districts, voted to restore the Obamacare subsidies for three years. There have been other voices of dissent and not just from party gadflies Rand Paul and Thomas Massie. Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker said of Trump’s obsession with Greenland, “This is a topic that should be dropped.”
An indication of just how nervous Republican leaders are came from John Thune, who, for the very first time, has discussed the challenges in holding the Senate. Thune is working desperately to have John Cornyn renominated for a Texas Senate run instead of the far less electable Ken Paxton.
To counter all this dissatisfaction swirling around him, Trump has chosen a very clear antidote.
Violence and intimidation.
Both domestically and internationally, he seems determined to provoke violent responses to his outrageous and often illegal behavior, after which he can commit troops and bolster his authority in the name of “national security,” when the only real threat to national security emanates from the Oval Office.
Domestically, the latest example in what has been a concerted campaign to justify the use of the military in United States cities and thus allow Trump to effectively institute marshal law, has been supplied by Kristi Noem. In response to what was at best a seriously questionable and unnecessary use of deadly force in Minneapolis, Noem, rather than making any move to defuse the situation, is instead sending hundreds more of the administration’s storm trooper immigration agents to the city. As these thugs perpetrate more blatant outrages, Trump is hoping that resistance, even non-violent protest, will justify calling a national emergency, so he can deploy either the National Guard or regular troops to “keep order.” Internationally, Trump is flailing about, trying to foment a military crisis that will solidify his standing at home, be it in Venezuela, Greenland, Iran, or maybe even Canada.
As dissatisfaction with Trump grows, so does the magnitude of his response. We are, therefore, in a race to see whether he can be prevented from precipitating true disaster either here or abroad by the growing tide of activism by outraged Democrats and slowly awakening Republicans until the voters have the opportunity to create a more effective firebreak in November.
It may seem like hyperbole to assert that the outcome of this race will determine our future as a nation.
But it will.