With the Democrats already lining up to run for President these days….
Media editors are sending their reporters out to do stories on Donald Trump thinking about a second term….
One might ask is this a bit premature?
Donald J. Trump is having enough trouble getting thru everyday….
A year from now?
THAT might be a REAL Heavy lift….
His story in office for the last two years has earned him marginal approval numbers….
He is licking his wounds from just hitting a political brick wall after keeping the government shutdown for 35 days and could do the same thing again making sure that close to a million government workers won’t forget who caused them economic hardship and worries…His push for the border wall has cost him support among his own party members , including conservatives , who know that he will have to make immigration reform concessions sooner or late and that a border wall failure effort might’ve been an mistake….
His efforts on trade agreements remain unfinished….
His foreign policy efforts remain haphazard ….
His campaign people have been charged with crimes and Mueller & Co. are closing in on more of them and could end up charging his family members with crimes….
He has enacted a massive taxcut that seems to be a rich and corporate giveaway and on top of that?
He has signed off on a huge budget increase with Republicans…
ALL THIS and the guy and his people that are left are thinking about a SECOND TERM????
Are we missing something?
Does this guy think he’s do a second miracle act to get ANOTHER four years of heartache for America and the world?
President Trump’s defeat in his border-wall standoff with Congresshas clouded his already perilous path to a second term in 2020, undercutting Mr. Trump’s cherished image as a forceful leader and deft negotiator, and emboldening alike his Democratic challengers and Republican dissenters who hope to block his re-election.
The longest government shutdown in history inflicted severe political damage on the president, dragging down his poll numbers even among Republicans and stirring concern among party leaders about his ability to navigate the next two years of divided government. Mr. Trump, close associates acknowledge, appears without a plan for mounting a strong campaign in 2020, or for persuading the majority of Americans who view him negatively to give him another chance.
Compounding the harm to Mr. Trump on Friday was the indictment of Roger Stone, his political adviser for several decades, on charges of lying to investigators and obstructing the inquiry by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The indictment was taken by some Republicans as the surest sign yet that Mr. Mueller’s investigation is likely to grow more painful to Mr. Trump and his associates before it wraps up.
Mr. Trump still commands the loyalty of a passionate electoral base that has rallied to him in trying moments, and advisers believe he will have room to right himself while Democratic presidential candidates are mired in a long nomination fight. Yet they are also growing anxious that he could face a draining primary of his own next year.
Several prominent Trump antagonists are actively urging other Republicans to take on the president, and a popular governor, Larry Hogan of Maryland, has indicated he is newly open to their entreaties.
In a sign of the White House’s determination to project party unity, a top Trump campaign official, Bill Stepien, traveled to the Republican National Committee meeting in New Mexico this week to orchestrate an ornamental resolution of support for the president. It passed unanimously on Friday afternoon, hailing Mr. Trump for his “effective presidency” even as his shutdown strategy collapsed.
David Winston, a Republican pollster, said the burden was now on Mr. Trump to restore his stature as a leader by forging some kind of border-security deal with Democrats, and to deliver a stronger message on the economy.
“Leadership means results,” Mr. Winston said. “When you have a shutdown, people look at it, basically, as: the political system has failed.”
Mr. Winston said polling data suggested the border wall had been a problematic fight to pick. “Immigration is an important issue,’’ he said, “but people are waking up every day trying to figure out how they’re going to pay a set of bills in front of them.”
For now, Mr. Trump remains wholly focused on appeasing his conservative base, comprising perhaps a third of the electorate, despite private G.O.P. polling suggesting that his agenda on immigration has failed to move the country in his favor, Republicans who work closely with the president said….
image…CreditGabriella Demczuk for The New York Times