Mr. Trump is set to depart office on Wednesday with an approval rating of 29 percent, the lowest of his presidency, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center.
About 75 percent of the public said Mr. Trump bore some responsibility for the violence and destruction of Jan. 6, which put the lives of the vice president and members of Congress at risk and resulted in five deaths, according to the survey.
And his behavior since the election — a period during which he has repeatedly tried to contest his loss, relied on conspiracy theorists for advice, encouraged supporters who do not view President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. as legitimate, and refused to concede — has cost Mr. Trump support even with those individuals who have loyally supported him up until now.
According to Pew, the share of his supporters who described his conduct as “poor” has doubled, from 10 percent to 20 percent, over the past two months. (Source)
Apparently a delusional, murderous mob storming the capitol screaming "Hang Mike Pence" was a bridge too far. I suppose we should feel some relief that there is still a line that can be crossed. I was beginning to doubt it.
But if Trump, say, had in fact shot and killed some random person on 5th Ave., I can assure you Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan would tell us that the Democrats made him do it or that he did nothing that some Democrat hasn't done worse or that the person was a nobody who deserved to die anyway. And the above referred to 29% would enthusiastically cheer their agreement.
So it would appear that in our national makeup we must always have this thirty percent of right-wing dead enders. Even if only 29% still approve Trump, 34% still believe he won the election. That thirtyish number hasn't changed since Nixon. It's a significant number of people, but it's not enough to take over the country. We can, however, expect more violence–bombings, political assassinations, mass shootings. That will very likely be our immediate future. If Dems lose the House and the Senate in '22, it's going to get really ugly. If Republicans win the White House in '24, it's over.
So the challenge for the other 70% is to contain the most virulent elements of the 30%. We need to defang them and render them irrelevant, and it's not at all clear whether there's the sustained resolve to do that. It starts with doing everything possible to vote the nuttiest members of the Freedom Caucus out of office in the next cycle–those, anyway, who aren't expelled if it turns out they were complicit with the mob on the 6th.
We'll soon see if Biden has what it takes to turn things around. So far, so good. He's exceeded my expectations.
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