For future reference. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps they are not. Only time will tell. But at least we will have a public record of whose analysis was correct and whose was not.
The day the Trump presidency died
So bye, bye MAGA dream in the sky:
This is probably the beginning of the end of Trump’s presidency. The midterms are shaping up to be a bloodbath. The markets now put the odds of Democrats re-taking the House at 68{e1e765f6645cfe4995202f72094ad9c88a5cb669127c8020c4b88ace2386bb53}. The odds of Democrats gaining control of the Senate is 40{e1e765f6645cfe4995202f72094ad9c88a5cb669127c8020c4b88ace2386bb53}, an astoundingly high figure given Democrats are defending 25 of their seats–more than half–while Republicans are defending just eight of their own.
The last two years of Trump’s term will be one of perpetual Russia, Russia!, RUSSIA!! and impeachment proceedings initiated by a Democrat congress riding its “blue wave”, while pusillanimous Republicans meekly position themselves in various ways in opposition to the isolated president.
This budget bill is, in short, a middle finger to President Trump. Its larger message: populism is no match for the Deep State. The contest is an unequal one. It’s almost cruel the way the congresscritters—Chuck Ryan and Paul Schumer, Nancy McConnell and Mitch Pelosi—it’s almost cruel the way they are grinning and chuckling and high-fiving among themselves over how easy it’s been to kick sand in the President’s face.
I’m afraid we can now see that the populist victories of two years ago that filled us with so much hope were in fact a false dawn, a mirage. For all its spirit and vigor and successes, the populist movement is amateurish and uncoordinated. It’s no match for the seasoned, hardened operatives of the Deep State, with their decades of experience at gaming Western democratic systems.
Who else merits quoting? There is no need to quote Never Trumpers like Jonah Goldberg and Ben Shapiro. And the Z-man already publicly abandoned the Trump Train and disowned the God-Emperor, so quoting him would be redundant.