A Little More Political Analysis

The political pundits in the media often point to Donald Trump's consistently low approval ratings as president to make the point that he will have an uphill fight for reelection in 2020...I beg to differ.  True, I'm not the only person who thinks the current occupant of the White House is a reprehensible dictator-wannabe, to say nothing of the fact that there is precious little about this elected leader of our wonderful nation to recommend as a role model for others.  There are plenty of conservatives who thoroughly detest Trump and in a presidential approval poll wouldn't support him...but in an election against a Democratic candidate far to the political left of Trump, they still would go to the polls and vote for him while holding their noses.  And then there are those crossover voters that went for Obama during his 2008 and 2012 elections but opted for Trump because (1) of the candidate's populist and personal message and (2) their overwhelming dislike of Hillary Clinton.  Well, these voters in such crucial swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida are still out there and there's no guarantee that the Democrats won't again produce a nominee that turns their stomachs.  So Trump, in my opinion, is in a pretty good spot so far for his reelection.  Now for another political matter...

I know of several friends on Facebook who positively adore Trump (and a few who positively abhor him)...some of these are attracted by his very same personality traits that I find so repulsive and aren't particularly ideological in their politics.  But I know a few who have consistently been conservative in their outlook and I think a lot of these understand that much of what Trump gets as criticism aimed at him and his administration would also be directed at another president, say Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio, had they been elected instead in 2016...and that includes being personally attacked on a daily basis by late night TV hosts like Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers.  I happen to share some views on various issues with these conservatives but find Trump so toxic that I feel the need to back off...I'm convinced that I would not have this problem were a different Republican working in the Oval Office.  So at least for myself, whenever I hear opinion makers on the left personalizing some of their political differences I have to take pause and filter out everything I hear.  On the other side, I am confident that for whomever the Democrats choose to nominate as their candidate, the political right will find all sorts of nasty things to say about them as well.  If you thought the 2016 presidential campaign was bad, then you ain't seen nothing yet: borrowing a little from Guns N' Roses, welcome to the sewer...it gets worse here every day...