Vain Hope

We are 110 days into the Trump Administration.

I am frankly stunned at how little he has accomplished. I am mildly surprised that he didn't nominate a more extreme SCOTUS nominee. He has made little or no progress on his tax reforms and budget proposals. Trumpcare barely passed the House by 4 votes with 20 defections from his own party and looks hard pressed to pass the U.S. Senate where even two GOP defections will kill the highly unpopular bill. His Muslim ban has been stopped by the courts and his wall proposal is on hold. 

A stunning number of his nominees have resigned before or after being appointed already. And, there is so much scandal smoke circling around him that it doesn't seem impossible that there might be enough of a fire to remove him from office. Not that a Pence Presidency would be a good thing, but it might signal a return to a relatively more normal democracy. And, forced to spend more time in the spotlight, Pence would swiftly become as unpopular as Trump, because he is bat shit crazy.

It isn't unthinkable that this election will have woken up Democrats and independents with such a shock, they they might be able to retake the House or the Senate or both in 2018. The opposition party usually makes gains in off year elections and Trump has done nothing to discourage that trend. And, the margins in each House are small enough that even if the Republicans continued to control both chambers, a loss of even half a dozen Representatives and a single Senator could seriously impair Trump's ability to pass the more controversial elements of his agenda.

Honestly, realistically and rationally, I expect that Trump will do much more damage before we are rid of him and his cronies. But, I'm feeling just a little vain hope that he may be on the defensive at this point and that he may be thwarted from some of his more extreme efforts to undermine our democracy.