Trump Is an Unpopular Authoritarian Nightmare

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll has found that Donald Trump's disapproval rating has hit an all-time high of 60 percent; that 53 percent of respondents believe he has attempted to interfere with Mueller's investigation in a way that amounts to obstruction of justice; and that 49 percent of respondents believe Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against him.

Further:

The president has fired a near-daily barrage of tweets labeling the probe a "witch hunt" and attacking the credibility of Mueller and several current and former Justice Department officials.

But 63 percent of Americans support Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, with 52 percent saying they support it strongly; 29 percent oppose the probe.

...Trump has ratcheted up his public attacks on Sessions in recent weeks and has consulted his personal attorneys and other advisers about firing the attorney general, whom he has viewed as insufficiently loyal after Sessions recused himself last year from overseeing the Russia investigation because of a conflict of interest.

But the public is squarely behind Sessions. Sixty-four percent of Americans do not think Trump should fire Sessions, with 19 percent saying he should and 17 percent saying they have no opinion. Nearly half of Republicans, 47 percent, say Trump should not fire the attorney general, with 31 percent saying he should.

Just under a quarter of Americans, 23 percent, say they agree with Trump's criticisms of Sessions for allowing the Mueller investigation to proceed, while 62 percent say they side with Sessions, who has said he is following the law.

If Trump had wanted the public to rally around his white supremacist, misogynist, queer-hating, traitorous Attorney General, he couldn't have found a better way than publicly attacking him in a sustained way. Cough.

Sessions was a hideous selection for Attorney General, but because he's a rank bigot, not because he recused himself from the Russia investigation. But if he is fired, he'll be fired because Trump is trying to obstruct justice — and to punish Sessions for refusing to do the same.

That leaves the Republicans' campaign to discredit Bob Mueller. Which clearly isn't working. So Trump has put his best man on the job.

"Trump's legal team is crafting a 'counter-report' that will seek to delegitimize Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling and present countervailing arguments." That's fine. Everything is fine. 😬 https://t.co/VN5uvIv3SF

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) August 31, 2018

During a typical administration, a poll finding that the public so strongly disfavors a first-term president and his strategies would be good news, because we could expect the pressures of popular support for reelection to force necessary changes. But the Trump Regime is not a typical administration. It is instead an administration led by a destructive megalomaniac who feels increasingly backed into a corner, whose party has abandoned any loyalty to country or democracy or the voters they are meant to represent in order to consolidate power behind their authoritarian president.

So these numbers are not good news at all. They are a harbinger that Trump will lash out ever more viciously, and an indication of how truly lost we already are, that popular opinion among We the People no longer has the capacity to effect change.