Is the first term of the Trump presidency already over?

On Unz, Trump sentiment has turned negative, especially in the comments.

President Trump, of course, was elected because many people thought he could reverse this process, especially by limiting mass immigration and taking strong action in the culture wars, for example by promoting official English. Yet in recent weeks, he has repeatedly endorsed more legal immigration. Rather than fighting, the president is content to brag about the economy and whine about unfair press coverage and investigations. He already seems like a lame duck.

The mention of ‘lame duck’ suggests the presidency is effectively over despite almost 2 years remaining. The rest of 2019 will be spent battling congress and courts for wall funding and the actual construction of the wall, probably with no further policy or legislative accomplishments. Things will pretty much grind to a standstill until 2020, when Trump returns to the campaign trail. The final year of his first term will be spent campaigning, which leaves him with only 10 months, which will be spent on legal and congregational battles.

This is not like 1996, 1984, or even 2012, when the opposing side had little hope. Given Trump’s sub-45% approval rating, the dems know 2020 will be close and are going to do everything in their power to tip the odds in their favor. Trump knows that he will have to campaign even harder than he did in 2016, and start early, leaving even less time to do anything.

One can argue that this another reason why democracy sucks: a lot of time and effort wasted on securing power than acting on it.

As discussed before, the administration was dealt three major blows, all within a few months: Trump’s capitulation on the wall (signing a nearly worthless piece of legislation, although he had few good options to begin with), capitulation on the shut-down (opening the government because he felt bad for the furloughed workers even though the vast majority of his base does not care, which was a mistake on his part that he could have avoided), and the GOP losing the House (Trump had no control over this). The delay over the the wall is reminiscent of Brexit, which was already watered-down to begin with, and will be delayed for years through the courts and Congress.

In response to these setbacks people said “give him 48 hours” or “it’s a head fake” or “4-d chess” etc.. A month later, we’re still waiting. It’s gotten to the point now where enthusiasm has waned considerably, wheres spirits were high in 2017. Trump’s foreign policy accomplishments, as well as appointment of 2 justices and even possibly a third, are nothing to sneeze at, but we have yet to see any swamp draining. If he does avail himself of the opportunity he has been given, especially should he get another term, then there may not be any second chances.