Trump Kicks Off 2020 Campaign To Save His Presidency Now

Donald Trump may have written his Presidential epitaph with his line yesterday that “the leaks are real…the news is fake”. On the other hand, he has another 47 months to top that one. Other than lining his own and his family’s pockets, Trump really seems to only have to items that he really believes in, a Muslim ban and a deportation crackdown. Everything else is transactional for him.

So, as his popularity tanks with everyone but his hard-core supporters, Trump will resort to what he does best and that is salesmanship, as opposed to governing. He will host a rally in Florida tomorrow that will be a campaign event paid for by his 2020 reelection fund. This is purely designed to make sure he keeps his base with him and, by doing so, keeps the already skittish GOP Congress at bay. He is already skating on thin ice and he must know that if the wall of GOP support begins to crack, Congress will turn on him in a heartbeat. After all, for most Republicans in Congress, Pence would be far easier to work with than Trump in their overwhelming desire to destroy the safety net and give huge tax cuts to the wealthy and their corporate overlords.

The recrafted Muslim ban and mass deportations will also play well to shoring up his base, at least for the time being. Once those are in place, however, it will be harder and harder for Trump to hide from his failures and his grift. Republicans in Congress must see they are now in a race to enact their agenda before Trump totally implodes and takes them down with him in 2018. And Trump will stay in campaign mode to keep their support. As everyone is asking today, how long can it last?