There is a curious air of finality in the air. Summer air in an era of climate change always seems a bit iffy, but the air I am talking about is weirdly definite.
Trump has had all sorts of staying power and maybe he will come back from Europe with a sense of confidence and resolve. But on a day when the usual reportorial move would be to find more reasons for his collapse, it seems somehow beyond that.
It seems Trump is being widely discounted
Is Donald Trump being discounted?
The latest Rasmussen confidence-in-Trump poll has dipped to 39 percent. the lowest ever from the GOP's favorite pollster. This is also Trump's favorite poll. He will not boast about this one. It suggests discounting. I got a similar sense after Trump's puerile Poland speech.
It was hard to ignore the reaction these iffy, suppositional, schoolboy remarks. How was this amateurish speech heard in North Korea? For all they have been through, North Koreans are a stalwart, tested and strong people.
It is not a game of dozens we are playing.
China
China is reluctant to upset the dangerous configuration that exists.
The last thing Xi wants is a united Korea in the US camp. If I was Trump, I would offer to create a neutral zone China could live with. But that is a very long shot. The situation remains volatile and Trump's posture is more a question mark than a sign that can be read with any clarity.
The Mika-Joe factor
Trump has invested more in a demeaning and damaging tweet war with Mika and Morning Joe than in either his faltering health care effort or the North Korean suspense game. In these cases, people are hoping others will be more mature than Trump has seemed.
That is a horrible position to be in. Trump is no dummy when it comes to sensing where he stands. He has been known to fight back when people discount him.
He is in power
Trump is in power whether he knows or cares or not. When he looks for support, he has his base which hangs in even if Rasmussen manages to shave a point or two from his approval numbers. Today's poll will doubtless be seen as an outlier. "Our guy won" is still the bottom line logic.
Even the New York Times acknowledges that behind the tweet barrage, the President may have some OK ideas.
Time moves on regardless
How momentary is the sense that Trump is being discounted? That's a question only time can answer. He will know. Events may move in the direction of departure. Otherwise, the prospect is for more of the same. That means tweet wars and lackluster governance, to whatever the end may be.