MAGA voters could lose their patience if their bank accounts, retirement accounts and home prices hit the skids because of Trump’s policies.
It was January 2016, just two weeks before the Iowa caucus. Then-candidate Donald Trump delivered to a Christian college audience what would become the line of his political career: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose voters, OK?”
Since making that wild and revealing statement, his supporters and detractors alike have been testing the limits of that theory to pretty conclusive results.
Though he hasn’t actually shot somebody, President Trump has done nearly everything a leader could do to turn voters off.
For Trump opponents, it’s been a frustrating ride, where, seemingly around every corner, the possibility of “the end” of Trump has been dangled — temptingly and precariously — only for him to survive and in some cases even boost his popularity in the process.
The first test of the hypothetical came with the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump openly brags about grabbing women’s genitalia. Many politicos, and plenty of his own fans, predicted this would end his presidential aspirations. They were, of course, wrong.
Then began the years-long efforts to impeach him — efforts that were well-warranted, but only saw his popularity improve.
Then it felt certain that his overwhelming political losses after four years would do him in — he lost the House, the Senate and the White House for Republicans. But nope.
Then there was Jan. 6, 2021, one of the darkest days in modern American history. Despite video of Trump supporters storming the Capitol and beating police officers, Trump paid no political price for inciting an insurrection.
