Trump’s secret for survival

President Donald Trump has been called all sorts of names and charged with a variety of offences, most of them grave enough to have caused his down fall either by impeachment or a forced resignation.

Trump has been accused of womanising, tax evasion, not telling the truth on repeated occasions, bullying his political opponents, threatening nations with annihilation, openly launching attacks on existing world order and engaging in disastrous trade wars with small and mighty nations alike.

The late US president Richard Nixon was forced out of office in 1974 from much lesser "evils", so why Trump continues to defy his country and the world at large with impunity untill now and acts as if there is nothing wrong with him or his outlandish policies, both at the local and international levels.

World leaders fear him because they know he is capable of anything and his finger is so close to nuclear weapons capable of blowing hostile capitals to smithereens with no qualms or hesitations. And above all, he seems to get away with anything as if he is immune to any mischief from within or outside his country. So what is his secret for survival until now? One easy explanation that comes to mind almost immediately could be found in the proposition that Trump's loyalists are not about to change their conviction in the president who they had chosen in the last presidential elections. It is almost deep affection to the man and a deep and unshaken rejection of the Democratic Party and its candidates.

No matter what Trump's opponents or enemies throw at him, populist support for him remains solid and unwavering. It was the populist wave that brought Trump to power and this wave remains as strong as ever. It is almost a love or hate narrative when it comes to Trump and he is riding high on the love tsunami that won him the election in the first place.

Secondly, the American people are turning introvert and feeling "sick and tired" of globalisation, NATO, the UN and everything international and Trump came to symbolise this change of heart. His supporters share his anti-immigration posture and anti "foreign" sentiment and they are prepared to forget and forgive anything that he has been charged or will be accused of.

No wonder Trump acts as if he does not give a hoot about what his opponents say about him or accuse him of. In fact, all attacks on Trump work in his favour, as he seems to gain from them not lose support. Accordingly, his opponents, and they are many, will have to wait for the next presidential elections for their chance to topple the Trump rule. The odds are against Trump winning another term in the White House but even when leaving the White House, Trump can be assured of a place in history.