'Trump chickened out': Conservative writer revels in president's latest 'retreat'

Neoconservative writer Bill Krisol is reveling in President Donald Trump's retreat on economic issues he once vowed he would remain rock solid on upholding.

In an article for The Bulwark, Kristol called Trump's retreat on issues like Chinese tariffs and threats of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell "a fine sight."

Kristol even repeated the viral insult that got 150 million views on Chinese-run social media that "Trump chickened out" in his dealings with China's President Xi Jinping.

But Kristol's schadenfreude came with a caveat: "it would be a mistake to make too much of these reversals," Kristol wrote. "Trump’s commitment to autocracy at home and to dictators abroad isn’t going to change. Whatever tactical U-turns he pulls off, the fundamental danger of Trump and Trumpism remains."

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Kristol maintained that Trump's flip-flopping was hurting him politically, citing a new Reuters-Ipsos poll showing Trump’s approval rating at 42 percent, "down five percentage points in the three months since inauguration."

"Indeed, Trump’s zig-zags raise the possibility the opposition can achieve the best of both worlds: A little less damage to the country and the world, along with a continued decline in Trump’s popularity," Kristol wrote.

Kristol encouraged Democrats to seize on Trump's moment of weakness to send a "clear and unequivocal" message: that Donald Trump is both a dangerous autocrat with destructive plans, but also that he is a bully who cowers in a real fight. "The good news is that no figure is more contemptible than a bully in retreat."

Kristol also quoted former President Bill Clinton who said in 2002, “When people feel uncertain, they’d rather have someone strong and wrong than weak and right," adding, "Could we be entering a period when the public sees that Trump is both wrong and weak?"

Read The Bulwark article here.