Where did his powers go?

It sure seems like most of President Trump's big political decisions this year have been wrong

I’m not sure what’s up with Donald Trump recently. He seems to have lost his ability to predict and get ahead of the mood of the people and, to some extent, the ability to lead public opinion, even among those who voted for him.

• He’s not focused enough, even in his rhetoric, on the cost of living

• Starting the mid-decade gerrymandering wars was utterly mindless and harmful to the nation in the long run

• Starting the Iran war (which I support) by giving a timeline for it to finish, after years of railing against Obama and Biden for giving deadlines like that, was terrible politics

• Picking a fight with the pope. Wow.

• Allowing Steven Miller and Kristi Noem to impose a 3000-deportations a day quota, taking ICE’s eye off the important ball: focusing on those who have committed serious crimes while in the country. Our federal government then killed two Americans. A tragedy and a massive political loser

• The Comey indictment, which surely obtained his permission, will be a loser (but Trump probably just wants Comey’s life to be miserable)

• Allowing any Republican to propose taxpayer funding for the ballroom is nuts. He should be telling Lindsey Graham to zip it

• Apparently supporting a government bailout of Spirit Airlines (and maybe other low-cost airlines) is nonsense. Even Josh Hawley (the only Republican in the Senate who is worse than Graham) knows it

• Allowing the FCC to threaten ABC’s (eight) television licenses is ridiculous and will lose in public opinion and in court if the gov’t tries to revoke the licenses

• And now this: Trump Is Going After Birth Control. Here’s Why. - POLITICO

I understand that Trump is in a tough spot politically as far as trying to minimize the damage to Republicans in the midterms. I further understand that, in significant part due to the war with Iran, some of his base has abandoned him, most notably the Nazi-leaning part like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens (good riddance to that part of his coalition). I understand that the party of the incumbent president almost always loses seats in the midterms and Trump is floundering, trying to find ways to motivate his base to turn out in about 6 months as his approval numbers reach close-to-freezing levels.

Trump has never understood that while he of course needs his base, they’re not enough. And the percentage of Americans who think birth control should be restricted is a very small number. IF the Politico story is true, it will give Democrats tremendously effective ammunition against Republicans in November and it would probably motivate at least 3 times, maybe 5 times, as many voters to come out to vote against Republicans as to vote for them.

Republicans are certain to lose the House. That was going to happen no matter what. But now it’s a 50/50 thing whether they lose the Senate. And it’s worth noting that state and local politics typically has a bigger impact on our daily lives than the federal government does. Trump’s low popularity and consistent political miscalculations this term can (and surely will) cost Republicans LOTS of “down-ballot” races. I just find it strange that a guy who was like the Rain Man of understanding the public mood is making so many mistakes. As president of the Bad Analogy Club, I’ll offer you this: I’m watching a wacky Amazon Prime series about evil superheroes called “The Boys.” A couple of the characters with “powers” (usually great strength in some form) lose those powers and just become regular people. Doesn’t make them bad, and some of them prefer being normal. But especially to his base, Trump has always had powers...and now it seems like he doesn’t.

Does it seem like Trump is in this kind of mood sometimes? (OK, this is a little over the top, but it is a bad analogy after all.)