Trump's worst week ...

I’ve lost count of how many there have been.   

It seems every other week is Trump’s worst week.  At least according to CNN and MSNBC. Calling this every other week seems a bit much, to me.  You’d think that since worst is an absolute – worst implies “ever” – every “worst week” would have to be even worse than before. 

He’s been in office about 20 months. Let’s say he’s had four weeks than weren’t the worst ever.  That still leaves 38 weeks of ever-escalating bad things.  Each one would have to be worse for him than the week before. Is that even possible? 

If you start small, maybe him getting caught falsely claiming his inauguration crowds were bigger than Obama’s, that would still be 37 more increments of worst weeks. Each one worse for him than the previous one. That’s a tough mountain to climb if it keeps getting steeper. 

Not to say the media haven’t tried valiantly to keep that pace.

The Steele dossier.  The demands for his tax returns.  Payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Avenetti’s lawsuit against Trump.  The lawsuits over Trump University. Denying McCain was a hero.  Firing James Comey.  His revolving door of officials.  Bad blood between Trump and establishment Republicans.  Charlottesville.  The Mueller probe. Paul Manafort’s indictment and convictions. Omarosa and her tapes. Michael Cohen’s indictment and convictions, plus rumored tapes. Fights with Jeff Sessions.  All the books from Comey and others.  Cozying up to Putin. The op-ed by some anonymous administration official.  And, of course, the constant drumbeat for impeachment. 

At different times these were the basis for Trump’s worst week. 

But Trump is still here. For a guy with ever-increasingly worst weeks, that’s amazing. 

Or maybe not. 

I think the media haven’t been successful because they consistently overplay their hand. Sure, the hardcore Trump haters, and never-Trumpers among Republicans, loved these stories. However, hardcore Trump supporters and populist Republicans don’t care much about any of this – like Trump’s fiercest opponents, they’ve made up their minds about him already. 

There’s also the inherent problem of constantly claiming this is his worst week. You can only take that so far before it loses impact.  Especially when all the dire predictions of his downfall fall short.  All the media’s smoking guns have essentially shot blanks.  All the “this is it” moments haven’t materialized.   All the “writing’s on the wall” assertions have looked foolish in hindsight. 

Trump’s been his own worst enemy.  He’s been a jerk.  He’s been arrogant and rude.  He’s said dumb things.  All that’s true.  If any other President acted the same, he or she’d be gone. 

But he’s not any other President, although the media and the Trump haters insist on comparing him to them.  Because he’s not like any other President is part of his appeal; it’s probably the biggest reason he was elected – it was a middle finger to the media and political establishment.

This is even more apparent now that Obama is back on the campaign trail for Democrats. 

Obama feigns moral outrage at how Trump has treated our allies, minorities, immigrants, the poor, the LGBT community, and the environment. How Trump enacted tax cuts that only helped the wealthy and corporations.  How Trump has harmed our democracy. And how Trump has caused us to lose respect in the world community.  

Obama also claims he's the one really responsible for the booming economy under Trump. 

This from the same guy who doubled our national debt – seriously, doubled – in only eight years. Put millions more people on food stamps. Increased the poverty rate. Accomplished absolutely nothing to reduce joblessness among blacks and Hispanics.  Stood by as middle class jobs disappeared. Said most of our lost manufacturing jobs would never come back. Fought against developing more domestic fossil fuels. Squandered billions on “shovel-ready jobs” that never materialized.  Wasted billions more on boondoggles like Solyndra. Allowed Libya to collapse into chaos by “leading from behind.” Blamed an obscure Internet video for the deaths of Americans in Libya. Failed to follow through on his “red line” in Syria, to the astonishment of our strategic partners. Did nothing when Russia annexed Crimea.

Oh, and also used the IRS to go after his opponents, and tapped the phones of AP reporters.  

These are just a few stark reasons why Trump was elected after Obama.

I fully expect in the weeks to come to see more claims Trump is once again experiencing his “worst week” based on some leaked memo, some lawsuit, the Mueller probe, or whatever.

Of course it won’t be. 

What I don’t expect to see from the media is the weird phenomena Obama will cause. Having Obama out there again, making the same claims, touting the same policies, is a gift to Trump.  It reminds everyone why they wanted Trump instead of more of the same. 

Every week Obama’s out there makes that week Trump’s best week.

Trump should thank him.  It’s a nice change.