Another one bites the dust

| 6:04 pm EDT May 2, 2019
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To hear most of the pundits tell it, Donald Trump is magically winning on all fronts, and there’s nothing his adversaries can do to stop him. Of course that kind of doomsday pessimism is the best way to scare the anti-Trump people into staying tuned in, right? Back in the real world, there are a lot of awful things that Trump gets away with, and a lot of awful things that he tries and fails to get away with – and we just saw another reminder of this.

Donald Trump had to announce this afternoon that he’s withdrawing his embattled federal reserve board nominee Stephen Moore, after it was revealed that – stop us if you’ve heard this one before – Moore was exposed as a horrible and unqualified person who has said and done horrifying and disqualifying things. Most Trump nominees fit this general description. Sometimes Trump manages to ram them through. Other times the Resistance pushes back, causing the wobbliest Senate Republicans to get too afraid of confirming the person, and the nomination fails.

Trump naturally tried to spin this as some kind of victory: “Steve Moore, a great pro-growth economist and a truly fine person, has decided to withdraw from the Fed process. Steve won the battle of ideas including Tax Cuts and deregulation which have produced non-inflationary prosperity for all Americans.” But that’s fantasyland stuff. The reality is that Trump lost. This comes after his recent failed attempt at getting his close ally, and equally horrible person, Herman Cain confirmed.

Even some pundits are trying to spin the failed nominations of Cain and Moore as a victory for Donald Trump because, well, that kind of doomsday nonsense scares people into watching. But the reality is that Trump’s corrupt efforts often fail. Sometimes it’s because he miscalculated. Sometimes it’s because the Resistance rises up and wins the day. But it’s a reminder that Trump’s schemes fail often – and that Senate Republicans do sometimes become too scared about their own reelection prospects to be willing to side with Trump. It’s also a reminder that whatever the next battle against Trump is, the Resistance stands a good chance of winning it.