,,, OR SHINE THE SHOES OF GEORGE W. BUSH.
Editorial Title: Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom?
As Chris Cillizza at CNN Notes, “USA Today isn't known for its blistering op-eds. Which makes the one (an editorial, not an op-ed, btw) the paper's editorial board just published on President Donald Trump all the more savage.
From the USA Editorial Board:
With his latest tweet, clearly implying that a United States senator would trade sexual favors for campaign cash, President Trump has shown he is not fit for office,"
reads the editorial. "Rock bottom is no impediment for a president who can always find room for a new low."
The reference here is
Trump's tweet Tuesday morning in which he said that Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York was "begging" him for campaign contributions not long ago "and would do anything for them."
The combined implications of the Alabama election and the press apparently finally being ready to take on Trump, full-blown, could be a very big deal. This all could pull some more Republicans away from Trump, and be more willing to take on Bannon. It could keep the Trump sex tape as a part of public discourse longer, and more aggressively. It gives the “Me Too” movement added momentum. Heck, I will even go so far as to say that this change in trend could hurt Trump’s chances of dumping Mueller, if the momentum continues. “Being on the losing end” may have just switched sides, which will changes Republicon behavior if it continues. As USA Today further states:
This isn’t about the policy differences we have with all presidents or our disappointment in some of their decisions. Obama and Bush both failed in many ways. They broke promises and told untruths, but the basic decency of each man was never in doubt.
Donald Trump, the man, on the other hand, is uniquely awful. His sickening behavior is corrosive to the enterprise of a shared governance based on common values and the consent of the governed.
Maybe it won’t affect trends. But, as of tonight, it is quite possible that the momentum away from Trump’s vulgarianism could be beginning to pick up steam. That probably won’t kill the Great Tax Robbery, but it very well could increase the cost in 2018 of passing that monstrosity as more people in the press and politics find their voice, at long last. Threats from Bannon may have just lost their potency as well. Then, if Mueller does have the goods on Trump (on roughly 5 different paths) and the Republicons won’t impeach, the odds of a full-blown 2018 House wave, followed by a 2019 impeachment, may have just gone up appreciably.
Stay tuned.