THE PRESIDENT IN TROUBLE – AT 1:18 P.M. ET:  Another resignation in protest over Syria.  This ain't funny.   From Fox: 

Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy for the global coalition to defeat Islamic State (ISIS), has resigned in the wake of President Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, Fox News confirmed Saturday -- coming on the heels of the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis earlier this week.

U.S. officials said this week that the Trump administration is making plans to pull all 2,000 troops out of Syria, and Trump later tweeted that “we have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”

Ground troops moved into Syria in 2015 to combat ISIS in the region, amid an escalating Syrian civil war. Trump had talked about pulling out of Syria before, but military leaders had warned about ISIS re-emerging should the U.S. do so. There is also concern about abandoning the U.S.'s Kurdish allies.

On Thursday, Trump announced that Mattis was retiring in February. Mattis’ resignation letter said that Trump had a right to a Defense Secretary “whose views are better aligned with yours” on policy.

Sources told Fox News this week that Mattis' resignation was "in protest" over the president's national security policies and that more resignations could be coming.

COMMENT:   And Mr. Trump is facing opposition, and dismay, from major Republican figures in the Senate, senators who had been supporting him on foreign policy.

In the last few days Urgent Agenda has received more messages critical of the president than in the entire Trump presidency, starting in January of 2017.

This is not good.  Presidents get into trouble, but they are in serious trouble when their own party starts doubting them.  Remember that Nixon was forced to resign, in the midst of the Watergate investigations, because support in his own party was eroding.  He resigned before being impeached by the House.  His fate in the Senate would have been in doubt.

I've never believed that Nixon was forced out by Watergate.  Watergate was the proximate cause, the excuse.   He was forced out because he was Richard Nixon.   Even though he had carried 49 states in the 1972 presidential election, he was less than popular, and rather disliked by fellow Republicans.

The same thing is true of Trump.  He is disliked within his own party.  He has made unnecessary enemies, and few friends.  If he gets into trouble because of the Mueller probes, he might find little enthusiasm for him to stay in office.  The current erosion of support because of his Syria decision is a serious warning to him. 

All is not lost.  Please recall that Harry Truman was widely regarded as hopeless before his spectacular come-from-behind victory in the presidential race of 1948.  And Franklin D. Roosevelt lost considerable support during his second term over his scheme to pack the Supreme Court and his decision to go for an unprecedented third term.  He not only won a third term, but a fourth as well. 

Don't underestimate Trump's political skills.  But don't overestimate them either.  Some of his allies say that he will survive, and win re-election, because there is no one else to take his place.  Recall the French proverb, that the graveyards of the world are filled with indispensable men.

December 22,  2018