Trump's 'grand strategy' of playing to his rabid base is about to blow up in his face: conservative commentator

According to conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin, President Donald Trump's increasing appeal to his most rabid fans for support in the wake of the Mueller report and his ongoing fights with Congress are going to blow up in his face and cost him re-election in 2020.

In her column for the Washington Post, the unrelenting critic of the president noted that his poll numbers are collapsing with the people he needs to hang onto -- voters who previously switched to Trump after voting for former President Barack Obama.

As Rubin wrote, "The media’s predilection for false balance and a weird awe of President Trump’s defiance of all moral and constitutional strengths ... leads to the 'nothing matters” and “his base is still with him!' sort of coverage that seems to concede, even after the 2018 midterms, that Trump is politically successful."

"But the data we have suggest that, in fact, he’s doubling down on a losing strategy," she added.

Noting that Democrats "hold the same generic poll lead they did leading up to the 2018 midterms," that led to the so-called "blue wave," Rubin suggested. "he’s making more steadfast opponents than steadfast supporters."

Pointing to a poll that stated, "Notably, there are now almost twice as many Americans with a 'very unfavorable' opinion of the president than there are those with a "very favorable" opinion (49 percent vs. 25 percent)," Rubin noted that Trump is in big trouble.

"Democrats have an opportunity not only to win back the Obama-Trump voters (who may have bought the notion that Trump would shake up Washington, fight for them on trade and restore economic prosperity to the Rust Belt) but also to retain the suburban, college-educated voters who fled the GOP to vote for Democratic congressional candidates in 2018," Rubin wrote.

"Neither the Obama-Trump voters nor the suburban defectors are looking for a revolution," she continued. "If anything, they may be amenable to a candidate promising to do what Trump did not (protect health care and lower health-care costs, root out corruption, manage government competently) and do so without the drama and the divisiveness that are mainstays of his governing style. As Trump becomes more chaotic and his corruption more evident, Democrats have a chance to present an alternative type of leadership (calm, inclusive, informed)."

"Base enthusiasm is critical, but it’s equally important to recognize that the voters who Trump has alienated may be the difference between winning and losing," she concluded.

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