Let Them Eat Ballroom

 Paul Krugman points out that Trump's "big win" in China is that China will start buying more American petroleum....which will further drive up the cost of gasoline here in the US. This is just rudimentary market stuff. Oil is famously fungible; it's a global market and every gallon sold to China or Europe is a gallon not sold in the US, reducing supply and driving up costs.

As Trump and Republicans try and dismantle democracy via partisan gerrymanders, they have to contend with the idea that Trump's cratering approval rating will create a dummymander, where they take reasonably safe seats and dilute them with Democratic voters in order to crack open Democratic districts. At the moment, the Democratic Party lags Trump's disapproval rating, because Democrats have zero levers to constrain Trump and therefore "look weak." I would anticipate that - if current trends continue and I see no reason why they wouldn't - Democrats will make gains on the generic ballot. Of course, Senate seat can't be gerrymandered, and I would expect Democrats to do particularly well there in places like Ohio, Iowa and Alaska that aren't typically seen as battlegrounds. Gerrymandering itself is likely to motivate Black voters in particular in places like South Carolina and Georgia that should only help Democrats.

In the midst of rampant inflation directly caused by Trump's war in Iran and now prioritizing oil sales to China, Trump has also devoted his true energies to really unprecedented levels of corruption. Trump has benefited from the cynicism most Americans feel about politicians, but his destruction of the East Wing of the White House and his continued desecration of the nation's capitol to assuage his fragile ego has created an easily understandable image of monarchical corruption - just in time for the 250th celebration of America throwing off monarchical rule.

Trump, of course, seems oblivious to his political peril, when he says things like "I don't think about Americans' financial situation." Now, there's a context for this about weighing the impact on the American economy and preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but he can't deliver a coherent sentence, because he's a senile old dipshit. The result, is a perfect soundbite to play on repeat (if Democrats get their shit together).

Trump extorting the Executive Branch, trading favors for payouts and generally prioritizing the wealthy over Americans is the precise conditions of a Blue Tsunami, powerful enough to overcome Republican gerrymandering efforts.