Trump is an Army of One By Brian C. Joondeph Presidents typically have the backing and support of their political party. Although all presidents have the bully pulpit to broadcast their messages, the presidency is a busy job and the president must delegate messaging and branding to surrogates, including elected officials in the president’s party. Barack Obama had legions of apologists and defenders. Every Congressional Democrat and scores of leftovers from the Clinton administration were ready, willing, and able to defend all things Obama, as well as viciously pounce on any of his detractors. The Obamacare and Benghazi scandals were vociferously shielded from any criticism. Bill Clinton enjoyed the same support from Team Democrat, particularly when navigating his scandal-filled two terms in office and impeachment. His supporters attacked independent counsel Kenneth Starr incessantly, impugning his character and calling him a pervert. In addition, all Democrat presidents have the unwaveringly loyal support of the media, print and digital. News coverage of past Democrat presidents has mostly been favorable, overlooking negative stories and supplying an abundance of humanizing puff pieces. Democrat presidential candidates are routinely endorsed by most major newspapers in America. Then along came Donald Trump, previously a member of each political party at different times in his life when such party affiliation served his interests. The truth was he was never a Democrat or a Republican, at least as they are defined today. Instead he is a problem solver, beholden to no one and not part of the political establishment. His loyalty is only to America and those who voted for him, not to the donor classes and globalist elites. Seeking the presidency, he understood the folly of running as a third-party candidate, at least officially, although in reality he was very much a third-party candidate, joining the GOP as the lessor of two evils. He was not part of either party’s ruling cabal, having never held elective office or political appointment. He did not campaign or arrive at the White House with an entourage of advisors and staff, from previous stints as a governor or senator. Trump was an army of one. Official White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian His past confidants from the Trump Tower days were his family and assorted lawyers and other fixer types, used as necessary when swimming through the shark-infested waters of New York City real estate development. President Trump entered the White House thin on trusted political aides and advisors. Few are still in his administration while most are long gone, some quietly and at least outwardly supportive of Trump, while others departed noisily, making trouble for Trump in exchange for book deals or appearances on CNN. Very few were solidly part of Trump’s army. Now in the second half of his first term in office, he remains the king of a nonexistent political party, at least in Washington, DC. His actual party is “Yuuge” with a political base that elected and likely will reelect him in 2020. Trump hovers around 50 percent in the polls with 90 plus-percent support among Republicans. Those few Republicans, like John Kasich, making noise about a primary challenge are chihuahuas nipping at the hooves of a massive Budweiser Clydesdale. The “son of a mailman” had his lunch handed to him by candidate Trump. Facing President Trump in 2020, he will be irrelevant. Yet Trump is largely alone. Where are Republican members of Congress? Where are the pundits? Defenders are as scarce as moderate Democrats. Nancy Pelosi is on television more in one week than Paul Ryan was in two years. Trump’s army is small, with only a few Congressional allies such as Mark Meadows and Lindsey Graham. Just a handful of media figures support President Trump while the rest call him a Nazi, a racist, a terrorist, or just a dolt. The remainder of the Republican Party is waiting patiently to stick a knife into Trump’s back when the situation allows. Republicans controlled the House and Senate for two years. Other than a corporate tax cut, what did they accomplish? Obamacare wasn’t repealed, despite endless promises to do so ahead of each election. The wall, Trump’s signature issue, wasn’t built. Planned Parenthood remained funded as did sanctuary cities. Two Supreme Court nominees were confirmed, although the Kavanaugh process was a travesty, aided and abetted by a handful of squishy Republican Senators. Even the President’s emergency declaration for wall funding is likely to be rejected due to several Republicans voting against their party leader and one of the primary issues for their constituents. How many Democrats defected in the Obamacare vote, a key issue for their party leader? None. Despite being an army of one, Trump is more than willing to fight back with all his might. In his famous speech from October 13, 2016 he said, “But I take all of these slings and arrows for you. I take them for our movement, so that we can have our country back.” Where is his army? Fortunately, Trump is a fighter. No other Republican could withstand the daily blistering barrage from the media and both political parties ganging up on him to destroy his presidency. Imagine how much more he could have accomplished in his first two years with solid support from the GOP, advancing his agenda and pushing back against spy-gate tricksters? On the plus side, he holds the keys to declassification and the pain that will bring to many, including potential indictments for conspiracy and treason. Huber and Horowitz are beginning to emerge from the shadows, bringing unpleasant surprises to many conspirators. As Trump told the NY Post last fall, “I’m a counter-puncher and I will hit them so hard they’d never been hit like that.” On the negative side, there could be 17 or so Republican Senators willing to join with their colleagues across the aisle to vote for conviction on any of the inevitable impeachment charges passed by the hyper-partisan House. Murkowski, Collins, Romney, and others would be happy to see Trump removed from office and after some theatrical handwringing and might vote to convict on any bogus articles of impeachment. Such defections were not a concern for Bill Clinton 20 years ago, but he was not a party of one; rather he was Atilla leading the Huns to battle. Trump has a fine line to straddle, bringing pain to the deep state but keeping Republican Senators, many of whom identify with the deep state, from tossing him to the wolves. Trump is interfering with the globalist elite agenda, and both parties would rather see him back in Trump Tower, away from the levers of power. After all, he was never supposed to win. For his voters, the frustration mounts. We have but one vote to give to the president and only our voices on social media as his army. Our elected representatives serve not their voters but instead their donors, as evidenced by the immigration stand-off. His army of 60 million plus is strong but with limited effect. Unfortunately, his political army in Washington, DC is largely against him. Yet he persists and perseveres, as an army of one. Despite being woefully outnumbered, he is the odds on favorite to prevail.
Trump is inspirational in so many ways. I honestly don't know how he does it. The man is attacked 24/7 from all sides.... but he still manages to smile, get things done, and parlay an incredible sense of humor and an air of likeability that is infectious to those that meet him in person. Even his worst foes say that. So many here (on ET) give him sh*t... and that's cool... but for real, you can't deny he is over the top brilliant when it comes to street smarts. He is the Teflon Don.
Lol at Donald Trump being a problem solver. I stopped reading there because of the absurdity of the claim. He is bull who walks around with his china shop.
I don't think there are too many people in the world who could take the unrelenting vile attacks of US liberal MSM, AND the DNC FBI fabricated crimes, head-on, and still come out victorious. Nothing short of truly amazing.
And yet, without help, his approval rating is higher than Hussein's at the same time in his presidency.
Trump is definately an impressive person. It is interesting the media has not attacked Trump on some of his significant screw ups as President. Maybe the media is so focused on their narratives and talking points they miss things that are outside of that. After all, the media did report on several potential politically harmful stories on Trump yet not a comment was uttered. It's like the media has a minimum s**t show criteria before they will dig into a story with their "Editorials" why Trump is a bad President. It doesn't look like Trump is going to get anything done on immigration reform, Obamacare reform, North Korea, or draining the Swamp. The modern American establishment politician is about telling what voters want to hear while serving the interests of lobbyists of large corporations such as health insurance companies, the medical industry, defense contractors, telecommunications companies, and so on. These companies benefit from current US immigration practices that drive labor rates down and increase the purchasing of their products, whether Government subsidized (Via taxpayers, of course) or not. Selling insurance to people is hard because most people have little descretionary spending and either think a bad event couldn't happen to them or want to take their chances. What better way to sell your product by making it a law that either the indidvidual or a third party will pay for it in most cases. The Swamp is made up of long term corrupt establishment politicians who have put barriers in place against reformers upsetting the status quo. Many potential reformers get weeded out through media scrutiny and the way campaign laws are structured. Say the right words publically and you become a "media darling" as with Kamala Harris. Although Trump did not fund most of his Presidential campaign expenses, my guess is he was one of the cleanest modern era politicians in regards to campaign finance law compliance. Kim was not ever going to give up his nukes. Why would he? He is doing fine. His people? Maybe not so much. Trump will not be able to deliver on some of his campaign promises. Some of it is because the Swamp is too deep and some of it destined for failure at the start because of the bad hand delt to Trump with North Korea. Overall Trump has earned himself a high rank as A US President for his calling out political correctness for the conversation controlling device it was, media manipulation, and staying the course through the false accusations against Brett Kavanaugh. Trump's tax cuts and promise to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden is encouraging increased business investment. The benefits to our economic growth should start being realized in the not too distant future. Remember, a new factory takes planning and time to build out. Looking at Trump's recent speeches, it appears he is becoming more Presidential. The word "statesmen" even crossed my mind. Looking forward, the media will try to blame Trump for not reaching a deal with China. Another way to look at it is China failing to make a deal with the US. Trump appears to be resolute on wanting either a fair deal or no deal. Remember, we US based consumers have the largest descretionary spending of all nations in the world. We are the world's largest customer and maybe it is time to invest in ourselves instead of China. And yes, prices for consumer goods will go up should a trade agreement with China not be reached. Trump reelection chances seem diminished because of the border security issue. Just a few of his base stays home and it's all over. Then again, continued Radical Left antics may get their base out to vote in record numbers as well as Trump's base, for that matter.