[dropcap]P[/dropcap]resident Trump has had a tough few weeks.
Really.
His CEOs quit his corporate advisory committees, he ousted Steve Bannon from his White House staff, he is under fire because of his non-apology for saying the Charlotteville violence came from many sides.
Now, the Secret Service says the department has run through its entire annual budget protecting the president and his family members.
Remember just a year ago when Trump was saying that President Obama spent too much time on vacation? Well, the Secret Service not only has to protect Trump, but also his children.
And they vacation and travel – a lot.
Right now, 42 people in the Trump White House require Secret Service protection – including 18 family members. That’s up from a total of 31 people needing protection in the Obama White House.
But I don’t have much sympathy for Trump.
His bombastic approach to basically everything – tweeting outrageous statements and attacking anyone who doesn’t agree with him – is causing everyone to distance themselves from him.
When the CEOs of major corporations move away from a Republican president, you know there is trouble in paradise.
But we have to endure. There’s not really much that can be done at this point. He was elected by a minority of voters, but a majority of the electoral college. If you impeach Trump, you end up with Vice President Mike Pence. While Pence seems to have a calming influence (some times) on Trump, if Pence were moved up to the presidency, he would push a lot of the same agenda.
The best we can hope for is that the leaders of the Republican Party – Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake, among others – can try to corral their president.
The Republicans now control all legislative branches in Washington D.C. – the House, the Senate and the presidency. If the president continues to go rogue, we have to hope that the House and Senate can come together and figure out what to do.
We are less than a year into Trump’s presidency, and we have three years, four months and four weeks left before the possibility of a new president – of either party.
So, hold on. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
We can only hope that we don’t get completely thrown off by the bombastic, erratic driver.
