Distractor-in-Chief

Pay no attention to the man in front of the curtain!

Our President, like much of his "base," is profoundly ignorant.  Completely out of his depth, he will do what he must to maintain his pose as "the most powerful man in the world" — and any effort by progressives to remove him from office is the equivalent of trying to fire the Aflac Duck.

Behind the curtain are most of the usual suspects, jostling a bit, but largely willing to accommodate each other.  Congress is finding new ways to further enrich the plutocrats with tax cuts and banking deregulation, the religious right has put dibs on the courts, fossil fuel has Scott Pruitt, the white supremacists have Jeff Sessions, and the more generalized forces of darkness have Steve Bannon serving as Tr*mp's brain.

Yes, importers and exporters will come into conflict over trade policy, big agriculture will fight threats to its pool of slave labor, and foreign policy may devolve even further into chaos, but the "stakeholders" in the Tr*mp presidency largely will be gratified.  The only obstruction they might face is Tr*mp, whose need for approval and approbation just might gum up the political machine.

If anybody manages to force Tr*mp out of power, it won't be the left.  It is abundantly clear that most Republicans would be overjoyed if an opportunity arose to have Mike Pence in the Oval Office instead of their temperamental figurehead, but they don't have a way to accomplish that.  Trump is their most effective pitchman since Reagan — but unlike Reagan, he can't stick to the script.