Trump Is Losing His Influence
The president can no longer count on his party’s support. That suggests dangerous times ahead.
Nice. Normal.
Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
I’ve been warning that this would be a dangerous period for President Donald Trump. With the midterms over, and no reason to think that Trump still has some kind of unusual hold on voters, Republicans would suddenly find themselves with far weaker incentives to go along with him.
This is the normal political cycle. What’s different for Trump is that while most presidents use the tools of office to build their influence, Trump’s professional reputation and his popularity among rank-and-file voters — and therefore his personal sway with legislators — remain unusually weak. That makes an unfavorable moment in the electoral cycle especially hazardous.