The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

I don't know if it is just me or the annual War on Christmas seems more subdued this year.  I suppose Fox is too busy trying to figure out what's up with Santa-in-Chief to give the air space they usually do for Christmas.  Trump backing down on the Wall really has them flummoxed.  Steve Doocey and his friends were beside themselves over the Democrats winning the battle over the government shutdown, lamenting that the President won't get squat for the wall now.  No need to worry, GoFundMe pages have been started to bail Trump out.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has promised Mexico and other beleaguered Central American states a whopping $10.6 billion Christmas gift in the way of development aid.  This has conservatives even more upset than Trump bailing on the wall.  Maybe he's disguising the wall as development aid.  Approximately $5 billion is earmarked for Mexico alone?

Even more perplexing is his recent decision to pull out of Syria lock, stock and barrel, claiming he's won the war on ISIS.  His tweet was the first many lawmakers knew about these plans, leaving Little Lindsey irked that he wasn't consulted on the matter.  The erstwhile South Carolina senator called the move "Obama-like," comparing it to the long-planned Iraq withdrawal in 2011, which many conservatives believed opened the door for ISIS.  Trump gave Obama no end of grief over the decision at the time, but here he is limping out on Syria when nothing is resolved in the country other than America's impotence.

ISIS or its equivalent still exists.  Battles rage for control of the northern part of the country.  Trump just couldn't see any more political mileage out of the long-running civil war and ceded it to Russia, Turkey and their Syrian allies.  Basically, he threw his hands up and said "no mas," as Roberto Duran did when he had enough of Sugar Ray Leonard's relentless barrage.  At least it saves Trump having to visit one war zone.

Trump's also not happy with the Fed right now, as it went ahead with its long-anticipated rate hike despite his protests.  He needs someone to apply pressure to Jerome Powell to get the Dow back on track.  It dropped over 2000 points this month alone, putting the index well below what it started at the beginning of the year.  All the American stock market indices are in the red, not a good sign for a businessman who was going to bring unparalleled prosperity to America.

Maybe there is some truth in Chris Matthews predicting Trump will resign in the coming weeks.  The guy definitely appears to have lost his swagger and is struggling to get through the year, much like the Dow he once so heartily boasted about.  Could this Christmas trip to Mar-a-Lago be his swansong?

I'm not so easily convinced, as Trump ended 2017 under a similar cloud and bounced back in the New Year.  He just needs to regroup, pull his closest advisers together and figure out a way to continue to dodge Mueller while appeasing his base with the "get tough" rhetoric they want to hear.  The only thing different is that Trump will face a much more belligerent Congress in the New Year, which may be why he threw out that carrot in development aid to Latin American countries.  This might appease the Democrats who think he's such a Grinch.

When you take all the events that have transpired since the midterm elections, Magaheads have never looked so sad.  It's pretty hard to rally behind a guy who seems to be looking for a hole to crawl into and sleep through the winter.

Nevertheless, the Trump 2020 campaign rolls on.  To hear him talk, he's the greatest president ever to set foot in the Oval Office.  No one has done more for the economy, the military, race relations, disaster relief, you name it than His Eminence.  Of course, you would be hard pressed to find any quantifiable proof of these claims, but to this point it didn't matter.  It was enough to say he was doing a great job for his Magaheads to believe him.

The message according to Fox & Friends is clear: no wall, no more unconditional love.  If you can't deliver on your signature campaign promise then don't bother coming back in January.  Magaheads will find someone else to believe in.  Who knows, maybe even Steve Doocey will run for President?