The tendency of people to believe that the best way of fixing things is to let them get worse is perhaps the most counter-intuitive piece of madness ever produced by politics.
There is no letting, at this point. Trump is going to be President. Take the scenario that is reality and assess what may be gained from it. Only once you know your goal do you know your angle. As for getting better, historical data clearly demonstrates that the party in power almost always loses confidence while the party out of power almost always gains it. Right now, the Republicans have power and a low confidence barrier. Do the math.
If a large number of people voted for Trump, then I refuse to believe that such madness as you suggest is possible.
A. In relative terms, not a lot of people voted for Trump. He would have been creamed by any other opponent and had so many gates to lose to Clinton he should be thanking whatever dark powers he consorts with that none of them opened.
The question isn't Trump's popularity, it's Clinton's unpopularity. Trump got votes because he had an R next to his name, he got votes from people who wanted to scapegoat others, and of course he got votes for the same reason Obama got votes: he was more exciting. Let this be a lesson to the party not to push obviously connected people like Clinton.
Or maybe Trump will just let them do whatever they want, leading to it becoming far more entrenched than it was previously. You know, what happened under Bush. For eight years. And made things the worst they've ever been. For another four years.
That isn't what happened under Bush. Bush aided, abetted, and used the security state. It was Obama who curbed some of its more unpopular excesses, but also Obama who did most of the entrenching.
Trump is in a bad position. Think of all the careful balancing Obama did to retain his popularity and consider that Trump isn't going to be able to manage the same. And that Trump's starting position is a full
thirty points below Obama. Like, holy shit. In political trend terms, I feel sorry for the Republicans. They've got the government today, sure. But the next reckoning is only ever one enduring controversy away.
When Bush went down, the Republicans went down hard with him. 2008 was a while ago, and I don't think people remember that very clearly. Many even within the GOP are already alienated from Trump in the same way that they were with Bush during the popularity collapse. And so we have the clear opportunity to make this into a good thing. Ensure that people do not forget everything and anything that is associated with Trump, so that when he fails it all fails with him.
Trump does drone strikes, they have to go. Trump wiretaps, it has to go. Trump abuses the electoral system, it has to be reformed. Given Trump's amazing ability to blunder into everything he should know better than to stick his nose in, the possibilities are only limited by what he ends up doing.
Just consider the possibility that Trump can be easily used by people who know how to manipulate him, and perhaps you will understand the sum of all my fears.
I'm not really concerned about that. Weak presidents being manipulated is par for the course. Trump represents a great opportunity because he is politically weak but personally ornery. This conflict will arise, mark my words. He won't be able to gain much influence, but he'll spend just as much time using the power of his office beating down those close to him for attempting manipulation as he would those opposed to him from afar. Maybe more, really.
Trump's not a supervillain, he's a guy who gets high on his own power. The people who will inevitably try to use him of course all have their own agendas. It's more of a clusterfuck than you believe it is, and keeping that in mind will serve greatly.