Conservative columnist has five epic reasons Trump could be a one-term president

Conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote Sunday that she knows of five reasons Trump might not make it to re-election.

According to Rubin, the first most dire prediction is tied to the effective efficiency of special counsel Robert Mueller. Pew Research Center reported this week that a majority of Americans (55 percent) "remains confident that special counsel Robert Mueller is conducting a fair investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Confidence in Mueller has held steady over the course of the past year, and there remains more confidence in Mueller to conduct a fair investigation than in Trump to handle matters related to the inquiry appropriately.”

When it comes to Trump, however, the majority of Americans (58 percent) say that they trust the president less than when he first took office. A mere 26 percent say they trust him more.

According to Rubin, the more Mueller continues investigating, the worse things get for Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to pass a bill that protects Mueller, but at this point, Trump firing Mueller would not be seen favorably by Americans.

Rubin's second reason was that Trump plays the "base" strategy, only reaching out to the most extreme members of his party. That's not exactly a winning strategy. All Trump needs is an opponent who doesn't horrify moderate Republicans, and he will lose.

The third example noted that many presidents tend to fall back on their role as commander in chief and pivot to foreign policy. That's a bit of a disaster for Trump now as well. The president proclaimed he was going to negotiate a peace deal with North Korea, but reports have revealed Trump seems to be the butt of a joke by Kim Jong Un. To make matters worse, Trump decided to pull out of Syria, saying ISIS was defeated. Just after the announcement, four members of American armed forces were killed by a suicide bomber, and ISIS took responsibility. That doesn't even scratch the surface of Trump's trade disasters and his claim Mexico would pay for the wall.

"Fourth, Trump’s narcissism, incompetence, and rotten judgment have led him to force out any adviser with a modicum of common sense, experience, and influence," wrote Rubin. "There is no one to head off or help get him out of jams he gets into. There is no Jim Mattis to reassure allies and clean up Trump’s sloppy rhetoric; no Gary Cohn to fend off tariffs. Surrounded by yes-men, callow relatives and enablers, Trump’s bad days increase and achievements become [scarce]. Again, Trump is his own worst enemy."

Finally, and perhaps worst of all, Trump has lead the Republican Party into disaster, and it's possible the party might not be able to recover. The party is hemorrhaging registrants, particularly from younger generations. For those left who still claim they're Republicans, 43 percent want a primary challenger for Trump, according to an NPR/PBS poll.

Rubin said that these aren't predictions or prophecies, rather, these are the barriers Trump faces. Unfortunately for him, many are not ones he seems to be conscious of.

Read the full op-ed at the Washington Post.