… Why does Trump spend so much time and energy keeping people off kilter? He has no interest in increasing the sense of security of his base. To do so would only make these voters more receptive to Democratic appeals.
The relative material deprivation of many Republican voters that continued into the first two years of the Trump administration reinforces their sustained dedication to Trump, even as the regions of the country where they disproportionately live fall further behind. …
As the 2020 election approaches, we can expect Trump not to be deterred by the prospect of impeachment. He will embrace it. He has proved repeatedly — compulsively, really, both in business and in politics — that he is willing to gamble on his ability to profit from a climate of chaos and threat, to rely on ever-present sense of crisis to fortify and expand his base.
What we don’t know, and don’t want to find out, is how much damage he is prepared to inflict. CONT.
Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times