Trump's lame duck Presidency

Living in the American Deep South during the run up to the 2016 election, I was a first party witness to Trump's election to the American Presidency.

I drove past "Honk if you love Trump" sign holders when his eventual victory seemed bleak, almost impossible, after Pussy-grab-gate.

I fielded, while trying to keep an open mind, calls from suburban white women on why they supported Trump. These were wealthy, educated women who saw something in Trump that they liked.

Yet, I will not say his victory on election night did not shock me. The winter of 2016 and early 2017 were bleak times for me personally because I felt robbed of the promise of American liberalism. I remember thinking this one instance when I was awaiting my turn to go at a 5-way Stop sign that give the lopsided victory Trump got in my domicile, three out of five people at the Stop sign, (three out of four if you exclude me) were probably Trump supporters. It was a sobering thought.

It came to pass that eventually, I decided to stop nominally supporting Trump's government with my tax money. I returned to India last September.

From afar, Trump's first year governing has been chaotic. If ever there were any, few competent people remain in his administration.

Though we may never find out given the sensitivity of the subject, it is possible that the special counsel investigating the 2016 election will find him personally aware of collusion between his campaign and the Russians.

Public support has cratered and sits in the low thirties with little signs of moving in the positive direction.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, a Republican like Trump, third in line to the Presidency if Trump and his Vice President are unable to perform their duties, has broken with him on a subject very close to Trump's heart - trade tariffs.

The upshot of all this is that Trump is President in name only. My gut feel is that the public and the world in general is treating his Presidency as lame duck waiting to be finished off by one of two events - an indictment followed by impeachment or a proper shellacking in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections which alters the balance of power in the House and Senate in ways which straitjackets the White House's antics.