Do people not realise that every time Trump is thwarted by judges his grip on power

[Peter]

Might not be that easy. The longer he's around and succeeding, the more the mainstream will have to shift to meet him.

He isn't going to be succeeding though. Unless he starts acting like a president.

[redgunamo]

Yes, of course. But when you consider that he is Commander in Chief with direct control of the military, a mind that refuses to be sidetracked by potentially catastrophic consequences is a rather worrying thing.

Thus far, the bravado has been largely promises and posturing. Hopefully it stays that way.

So everyone can get back to doing the things that made them elect someone like him in the first place? Yeah, terrific. Essentially, what you seem to be saying is whatever President Trump does will be wrong because President Trump?

Anyway, the military controls the military, not a mere Commander-in-Chief.

[Luis Anaconda]

The problem his opponents (Dem and Rep) have is that for business as usual to return, Trump's Presidency really has to be a disaster. If it isn't, the paradigm of what a 'good' presidential candidate looks like in the voters' minds could shift permanently to their disadvantage. That's why they actually have to relentlessly push the negatives - even to the point of creating them themselves.

Yes - hence I added the caveat in another post - this is all so unpredictable. I would say he is the bending the status quo as far as it can go, something has to give. I would say it's going to snap back into usual form at some point but quite possible it might just snap into pieces

[World's End Stella]

The assertion was that he would lose support by constantly bumping up against pillars of the governmental structure. In fact, the reverse appears to be the case.

Your assumption, or someone's assumption, seems to be that everyone that voted for Trump did so because of his anti-establishment pitch, or anti-swamp pitch, you might say.

I think he got a lot of anti-Hillary support, and much of that will be less than enamored with his continual run ins with traditional government and, in some cases, the constitution. I just don't think there's been enough time and enough incidents to see the full impact of that.

Or to put it another way, if he wants 4 more years at some point he is going to have to play some 'ball', as the Americans put it,

[Ash]

Yes, of course. But when you consider that he is Commander in Chief with direct control of the military, a mind that refuses to be sidetracked by potentially catastrophic consequences is a rather worrying thing.

Thus far, the bravado has been largely promises and posturing. Hopefully it stays that way.

Potentially catastrophic consequences didn't seem to enter Hilary's calculations when advocating her policy of endless wars. Particularly against a nuclear power.

[redgunamo]

Potentially catastrophic consequences didn't seem to enter Hilary's calculations when advocating her policy of endless wars. Particularly against a nuclear power.

Whataboutery, A.

[Peter]

So everyone can get back to doing the things that made them elect someone like him in the first place? Yeah, terrific. Essentially, what you seem to be saying is whatever President Trump does will be wrong because President Trump?

Anyway, the military controls the military, not a mere Commander-in-Chief.

I don't think I said that. I certainly didn't intend to do so.

In ordinary politics the military controls the military because the President is house-trained. This is not ordinary politics.

I expect it will work itself out but he is still a scary guy to have in charge of anything.

[Peter]

Potentially catastrophic consequences didn't seem to enter Hilary's calculations when advocating her policy of endless wars. Particularly against a nuclear power.

Sensible wars (the ones the military are happy to fight) are fine. Its the bad wars you need to worry about.

[World's End Stella]

Anyway, the military controls the military, not a mere Commander-in-Chief.

Not always, see Robert S McNamara

[Peter]

Or he might not believe in your dreadful consequences. He may think them a price worth paying.

That suggests some kind of balanced thought process, the pros and cons. I don't think he makes his decisions like this.