General Discussion

bdamomma

(63,849 posts) Tue Jan 22, 2019, 02:50 PM Jan 2019

Paul Krugman explains why Trump's popularity won't improve -- and warns he may 'lash out' in response

https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/paul-krugman-explains-why-trumps-popularity-wont-improve-and-warns-he-may-lash-out-in-response/

Snip of article:

President Donald Trump is and has been historically unpopular in the White House — and he’s likely to stay that way.

Economist Paul Krugman noted in a New York Times op-ed on Monday that Trump’s low approval rating of 37 percent according to the Pew Research Center is matched only by President Ronald Reagan at the same point in his presidency:

But Trump can’t hope for a quick unemployment turnaround, because it’s already quite low. There are other problems in the economy, of course — low wages, labor’s weakened power, health insecurity, and regional decline. Maybe if Trump actually did something to address these problems, he really could significantly boost his popularity.

And yet, he’s not even trying. His major economic policy, the GOP tax bill, provided a momentary sugar high at best while ballooning budget deficit projections. Congressional Republicans barely mentioned it during the 2018 campaign, knowing it was unpopular. Trump promised to revitalize coal country — but he’s failing, and he’ll continue to fail. Meanwhile, his government shutdown and trade wars are hurting the economy and could even push us into recession.

But this raises the question: What will Trump and the Republicans do in 2020 when, as seems likely, they realize that he’s barreling toward defeat?

“I don’t know the answer to that question, and if you aren’t scared about how a cornered Trump might lash out, you haven’t been paying attention,” wrote Krugman.

Trump has proven that he’ll try almost anything if he’s desperate enough. And we haven’t yet seen him at his most desperate. No one knows what it will look like if Republicans turn against him or Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivers devasting evidence of wrongdoing. President Richard Nixon resigned when his party allies told him it was over — can anyone imagine Trump going quietly into the night?

We have a very dangerous POS in the office and hopefully they will stop him.