Donald Trump Has Almost Cashed His Check
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
History is more an art than a science which becomes clear when you realize that it rhymes without ever quite repeating itself. We can read some strikingly similar stanzas when we go back to a rough time period in Richard Nixon’s second term and compare it to what Donald Trump is currently careening through in his first.
It was clear by the summer of 1973 that Nixon’s chances of surviving were becoming very sketchy indeed, and likewise Trump is starting to look truly vulnerable for the first time.
Things are coming at Trump fast now, with emoluments reaching the charts for the first time yesterday, his former fixer looking to reprise John Dean’s role , his former campaign manager about to begin the first of two doomed trials , and the Southern District of New York hauling his finance chief before a grand jury. He’s getting caught in his big lies on an almost daily basis now, with his feigned ignorance of hush payments to ex-girlfriends and foreknowledge of collusion-rich meetings with Kremlin emissaries turning to ash in his mouth.
At least when Nixon went to China he didn’t tell the world that all our differences were due to stupid Americans and that Mao Zedong was far more credible than CIA director Richard Helms and the rest of the Deep State goons working in our intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Tricky Dick was a paranoid thug but half the country wasn’t convinced with good reason that he was a helpless agent of a foreign power .
Deep Throat aside, most of the establishment was reluctant to think the worst of Nixon. At this point, you can almost pick any former high-ranking intelligence officer you want and find them quoted as suspecting Trump of treason . Even Fox News generals are quitting while accusing the president of being “a slave to Putin.”
So, no, things are not exactly the same as they were in 1973. Back then, the country was watching Congress hold hearings and steadily losing faith in the administration. If we have hearings this time, they’ll probably have to wait until next year. But in every other way, Trump is in a weaker position than Nixon was a year before he was forced to resign. Nixon had just won by one the biggest margins in American history, while Trump lost the popular vote and is still arguing about the size of his minuscule inaugural crowd. Nixon had showed competence and even excellence in several areas during his administration, while Trump stumbles from one self-inflicted disaster to another. Nixon had loyal soldiers lining up to take a bullet for him, but Trump is now virtually alone.
What Trump has that Nixon did not is Republican majorities in Congress. That is the only thing propping him up. If he loses that advantage (and maybe even if he doesn’t), he’ll be cashing his check.
His roots are thoroughly rotted out and all that should be required now is the strong breeze provided by Manafort’s trial, Cohen’s evidence, Mueller’s report, and some Democratic committee chairs to help make sense of it all.
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I really think Trump is a dead man walking in terms of his political future, and maybe even his future as a free man.
The polling in the upper midwest that came out this week showing Trump's approval totally underwater in those states indicates that the novelty of Trump has worn off on the people who elected him from previously Democratic leaning regions. If he cant repeat his success in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania he cant get re-elected.
There may not be a re-election though. One gets the feeling Mueller has Trump in his sights and a devastating report from Mueller about Trump and his associates is just down the road.
It's kind of amazing that he's not only engaging in far worse conduct and crimes than Nixon did but he's repeating the same mistakes Nixon made. If the two men were reversed in time I doubt Nixon would be dumb enough to repeat Trump's mistakes.
Trying to understand the connection between the title and the seed itself. Seems disconnected at best
It's the title of the linked article. I don't know why the writer phrased it that way.
He means time is running out for Trump.
I have another angle. Time may not be running out for Trump as much as Trump is running out of Trump.
Except to 'the rabid base' that doesn't understand it's own rabidity, the Trump song and dance routine has become a never ending monologue of predictable prehension.
I agree that he is wearing out his welcome with a large segment of the people.