Garrett Graff writes:

It’s easy to lose sight of how weak this administration’s popular support actually is. Two-thirds of Americans are not Trump voters — and even many who did support him are beginning to question or turn against what it’s like to live in Donald Trump’s America.

Many days it seems like Trump is on an unstoppable roll; he’s not. He is historically unpopular. The percent of Americans saying the country is on “the wrong track” has hit a new high. The increasingly unhinged Republican taking points are losing the public opinion battle in the government shutdown. Democrats are overperforming in countless contests this year and are looking strong in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races for next month. ABC had to cave on letting Jimmy Kimmel come back to the air. Many of Trump’s actions are getting turned back by the courts; even Harvard has gotten most of its federal funding back. Democratic governors and states are having success turning back some of Trump’s excesses and organizing around the federal government. And the costume-heavy protests outside ICE facilities in Oregon, Chicago, and elsewhere are helping to display the absurdity of the administration’s attempted crackdowns.

More of “Official America” would do well to recognize that Trump’s actions stem more from weakness than strength. As G. Elliott Morris, one of the only prognosticators of public opinion I bother to listen to anymore, argues, “A lot of powerful people just don’t realize how unpopular Trump is.” Greg Sargent wrote yesterday, “ICE’s military raids and masked kidnappings are resonating deeply/negatively in the cultural spaces we keep hearing Dems need to reach: Manosphere, Joe Rogan, country music, disengaged voters. That’s rare and it gives Dems a big opening to engage.”

Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, and the other corrupt cronies and would-be fascists of this administration are in many ways racing the clock. As Paul Krugman wrote last month, “Trump is nakedly following the playbook of autocrats like Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban. As his poll numbers fall, he is rushing to lock in permanent power by punishing his opponents and intimidating everyone else into submission… Yet Trump has a significant problem that neither Putin nor Orban faced. When Putin and Orban were consolidating their autocracies, they were genuinely popular. They were perceived by the public as effective and competent leaders. Just nine months into his presidency, Trump, by contrast, is deeply unpopular. He is increasingly seen as chaotic and inept.” [Continue reading…]