I predicted months before the election that Trump could win if and only if he and the media persuaded people that Clinton was an equally bad choice. Under those circumstances, the candidate promising change would have a slight advantage over the status quo candidate.
That is exactly what happened. Moderate Republican and independent voters with deep concerns about Trump’s qualifications, commitment to democratic norms, and character broke for him late because they viewed Clinton as being equally compromised as a result of the bogus e-mail issue. For all of the talk about white working class voters, “whitelash,” and the rest, that is what decided the election; Trump’s “deplorable” core supporters weren’t even close to being sufficiently numerous to put him over the hump.
But Trump can’t run against Clinton anymore. His approval ratings are pathetic for an incoming President. No one in the GOP Congress owes him his seat. The repeal of Obamacare has the potential to turn into a complete fiasco. The MSM will be hounding him for his mistakes and conflicts of interest without providing the familiar caveat that the other side is equally as bad. In short, he’s facing a very rocky road, so expect him to look for ways to drive up his ratings in short order.
Let’s just hope that doesn’t include war, but don’t be surprised if it does.