2018 will just be rearranging the GOP ashes

This past week slipped by without a blog post, even though I did begin writing a few blog posts, then decided not to finish them.  The 2016 information war is rewinding and replaying the beginning  SPIN track… on both sides.  Trump is reverting back to his beginning rally hits with off-the-chain tough talk on The Wall, China trade policy, illegal  immigration, Mexicans, the military and if news reports are true, he is back to insisting he knows more than the generals and is determined to pull US troops out of Syria very soon.

The #Resist, which includes many in the mainstream media, keeps recycling through their same old themes – Trump taxes, Trump’s women, Trump’s corrupt business practices, but the Trump/Russia collusion narrative appears to be fizzling, as to date, no smoking gun has been found.

My prediction is that Trump will veer back to his core advisers during the campaign, who encouraged his “Trump being Trump” rally sideshow antics.  He doesn’t want to listen to the generals or anyone who tries to guide him toward acting presidential or reining in his impulsive decision-making.  Trump cares more about what Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Seb Gorka say than he does about what General Kelly, General Mattis or General Dunford advise him.  That is really where America is at and while the Left’s anti-Trump contingent lives to create Trumpocalyspe hysteria, by any measure Trump’s own antics feed their spin.

Whatever Trump says or does has not and likely won’t cause enough disruption or chaos in ordinary Americans’  lives to cause mass hysteria or mass abandonment of Trump from his base.  Trump has not managed to win over even most of the Republicans in Congress to support him, but instead most support certain policy efforts, while at the same time trying to distance themselves from Trump.  The numbers of Republicans not seeking reelection tells a story that Trump’s staunchest mouthpieces will claim is “good riddance to those losers”, but in reality highlights that there aren’t Trump loyalist candidates emerging to actually be competitive to keep these Congressional seats red.

The Left’s mass hysteria does appear to be causing plenty of grassroots activism and motivation among Democrats and with the media-driven hype about a blue wave forming, it might actually drive a blue wave in November.  Add in the Trump chaos, much of it caused by Trump, combined with the Left’s relentless #Resist efforts and heavy Republican losses in November seem highly likely.

The Trump mouthpieces will blame the Republican Congress, the Omnibus bill and their favorite scapegoat is NeverTrumpers, who refuse to give full-throated support to the President, irrespective of what he says or does.  The Trump sycophants will never blame President Trump, his chaotic and toxic leadership, their own ongoing scorched earth information war, or their relentless efforts to demonize Republicans, who are not on the Trump train, for the Republican Party’s gloomy November prospects.  In one breath the Trump slash and burn crowd rant that NeverTrumpers have no influence and don’t matter and in the next they blame them for all the problems befalling a still deeply divided Trumpian Republican Party.

Whatever happens, one thing is certain – neither President Trump nor his loyal, ardent flame-throwers will take the blame if a blue wave decimates the Republican Party in November.  They will never man up to “their way or the highway” tactics causing losses and they won’t ever admit to being losers.  They will scapegoat NeverTrumpers… again.

Trump seems poised to hit the rally circuit again, veer back to his early campaign slash and burn mode, reclaim all his most extreme positions and rhetoric, confident that with the FOX 24/7 Trump spin, he is invincible.

Trump’s adversaries haven’t discovered  Trump’s kryptonite yet.  It’s not Trump/Russia collusion, his other women, his tax returns, his shady business dealings, his mercurial and impetuous behavior, or even his two biggest fears – losing or being perceived as weak.

He lives in a world where he insulates himself from losing, by never admitting he lost, even when he loses.  Likewise he insulates himself from acknowledging any weaknesses.  I suspect his kryptonite is having to face the truth, but he’s got decades deep self-delusions, legions of fawning courtiers  in his entourage and children, who feed his delusions to protect him.

No matter what happens in November, Trump will still be standing.  The GOP was burned to the ground in 2016, so 2018 will just be rearranging the ashes.