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Trump is Toast. Will He Take the Entire GOP Down With Him?

Photograph Source: Ninian Reid – CC BY 2.0

With just over three weeks to Election Day, more than six million votes have already been cast in early voting in 27 states as much of the White House and Trump campaign staff are infected with Covid-19 and/or quarantined. But as a sick and increasingly delusional president goes on a rampage against almost everyone, historic precedent says the double digit lead Joe Biden holds over Trump nationally is likely insurmountable. In other words, it’s time to simply admit that Trump is toast. The question now is: Will he take the GOP down with him?

Of course there will be Trump die-hards wailing and gnashing their teeth over that prediction, but just ask yourself: Do you really need or want another presidential debate? The last one was a disaster. The president was rude, ignored the debate rules, interrupted both Biden and the moderator over a hundred times and should have been muted — which I’m sure much of the audience would have appreciated.

Truth is there probably won’t be a second debate thanks to Trump’s self-inflicted Covid-19 infection. Whining that “they cut you off whenever they want” he’s refusing to abide by the Commission on Presidential Debates medically prudent decision to hold a virtual debate to avoid exposing staff, the moderator, and Biden to potentially lethal Covid-19.

It’s also worth remembering that before the last debate Trump was demanding Biden take a drug test, baselessly claiming his opponent was on some kind of rejuvenating drugs. Can you imagine what a drug test would now reveal about what’s currently running around in Trump’s body and brain? According to the Mayo Clinic, the steroid dexamethasone alone is known to cause aggression, agitation, anxiety, irritability, nervousness, mood changes, trouble thinking, speaking, and walking, and trouble breathing at rest. Let’s see, do any of those sound familiar?

Need some examples? We could start with Trump’s attacks last week on Attorney General William Barr, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. These are among “the best people” he himself appointed, with Barr and Pompeo consistently the most loyal of his minions. But why stop there? In the midst of a pandemic that has killed over 210,000 Americans, continues to spread, and may kill twice that many if we don’t take precautions according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump bellowed that he was done negotiating a stimulus bill to aid our increasingly suffering populace while telling people the coronavirus is nothing to worry about.

Is it any wonder that concern over the president’s behavior has sparked talk of invoking the 25th Amendment to consider removing the president because he can no longer fulfill his duties? Even Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s Republican Majority Leader, says he hasn’t been to the White House since August because it “wasn’t approaching the protection from this illness in the same way that I thought was appropriate in the Senate.”

In the meantime, since apparently all the president has left in his bankrupt playbook is to offer Americans more division and hatred, it’s worth noting that those he urged to “LIBERATE” Michigan planned to kidnap Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer before the election — but fortunately the plot was broken up last week by the FBI.

Of course no one really knows what this will mean for down-ticket races, but suffice it to say Republicans are very nervous that voters disgusted by Trump’s cruel circus will sweep them out, too. And given what they have enabled, cleaning house would be a very good thing for the nation.