The worse things get, the worse he’ll get. The more Trump’s popularity plummets, and he feels threatened, the more tempted he’ll be to govern as an unvarnished autocrat. That is the paradox that his critics will have to work through over the next two years.
But look on the bright side. The more Trump engages in foolish and unsuccessful military actions overseas, the less likely it is that he can use the regular armed forces to crush dissent at home. He’ll still have ICE, of course, but they have already failed at that task in Minnesota.