IN our national despair over the never-to-be Brexit and the horrors perpetrated by the House of Bunkum, the state of the American nation has slipped off the radar, not least the political future of its most disruptive and idiosyncratic President.
The big question on the other side of the pond is whether a man whose approval rating has been hovering below 50 per cent for his entire presidency can get a second term? Will The Donald be able to defy the naysayers, impeachment activists and historical trends?
National polls show him to be not in good shape. For the psephologists amongst you, here is the latest state by state data for you to assess.
How reliable are political polls? Can we still trust them? Yes, if they are designed well, says the Pew Research Centre.
But though the data on Trump has never looked great, the great disrupter has his own inimitable way of defying expectations. And I suspect with his calculated comments on the latest act in the Kavanaugh drama series, he’s on to something.
Regular readers will remember that Laura and I commented in some detail at the time on the sickening show trial of Brett Kavanaugh, got up to scupper the conservative’s nomination to the Supreme Court, in which he was presumed guilty from the start.
Although the Left’s lynch mob lost their baseless sexual assault case and Kavanaugh made it through to the Supreme Court, they never gave up. This past week has once more seen him under assault. You can catch up with the re-emergence of the ‘controversy’, the three news books that triggered it and a new allegation here.
CNN is gleefully asking whether Kavanaugh could still be impeached.
One of the ‘winners’ of the case first time round was unarguably President Trump – as himself remarked, it was ‘so much winning’. He is not missing the opportunity gifted him by this second round of MeToo# attack.
So what if the President and his aides have been accused of milking the Kavanaugh backlash? What else?
Nancy Cook writes in Politico: ‘For Team Trump, the ongoing focus on Kavanaugh is a political gift. The president and his aides are latching on to the uproar to energize conservatives about another hot-button emotional issue that resonates with the base, a move that can support GOP fundraising and ultimately bolster get-out-the-vote efforts’.
Indeed, and the final word goes to Kellyanne Conway in the same article:
‘Grabbing guns and smearing Supreme Court Justices? Next the Democrats will hold up a dismembered eight-month-old fetus!’ said the counselor to the president. ‘They are handing the election to President Trump.’
Only time will tell.
