These betrayals are splitting MAGA from Trump — and making him more dangerous than ever

I want to pour you a shot of good news, with a stiff chaser.

It won’t wipe away all your troubles, but it might make you feel warm and fuzzy for about 30 minutes — maybe longer if you just allow yourself to go with the buzz …

(BARTENDER’S TIP: Allow yourself to go with the buzz. It’s been a hard damn decade.)

All’s not well in MAGA land, my friends.

It seems there are hardcore members of the most destructive cult in American history, who believe their fearful, orange leader is outdoing himself in the Department of Bulls–––, as he undoes our democracy.

It’s actually starting to look like Donald Trump can go too far for at least a few of his ardent supporters, who have been known to see homegrown terrorists stomping on police officers and destroying our Capitol as “tourists,” and view the poisoning of our air and water as “healthy.”

The list of terrible things these morally busted people have endorsed by helping elect this garbage can of a man, is longer than a summer day in Alaska, but might not be limitless.

It could be there are actually lines they prefer not to be crossed — even by their vulgar idol, who has done the heroic work of battering our government, our benefits, and his spineless party into submission.

In the past week, I have heard from two old friends in the business community here in Madison, Wisconsin, and in my hometown haunts of New Jersey.

These gents deal with a lot of MAGA bros in their day-to-day work, which takes them deep inside the American staples of sales and finance. They interact with these people because they have mountains of patience, and those dreaded bills to pay. Like myself, they are both old-to-middle-aged white men, and as such have been afforded a lifetime of privilege to do just about anything they want in America (including attack it) without any serious ramifications.

Here’s one of those messages I received:

“I’ve had a couple of MAGA folks confide in me the last couple of weeks that they are officially off the Trump train. It seems like based on the posturing that’s happening and his recent losses that they will be cannibalizing him soon.”

He cited Epstein, the “Kash/Bongino obvious lying” and the “pro-billionaire shit” as some of the reasons for their sudden discontent with the orange and appalling man, as well as their desire to be more public with their upset.

Another message I received said this, among a lot of other “stuff”:

“He’s losing MAGA. This is not what they voted for, and the Epstein stuff is killing him. I’m telling you, he’s in trouble.”

Reports like this are hardly scientific, but they are meaningful, and the numbers back them up. Trump’s approval ratings are at historic lows for a president (and I use that term loosely) in his first year in office, where honeymoon periods, and “benefit of the doubts” can extend well into a second or third season.

The speed in which Trump has lost support is breathtaking.

Recent election results that have gone heavily Democratic, and some skirmishes in the Republican ranks point to a presidency that is beginning to wear thin on the majority of America, including more than a few of his once loyal foot soldiers.

Look, I’m not even remotely insinuating we are out of danger here. In fact, if there is any validity to the growing anti-Trump movement in the Republican ranks, and I think there is, Trump will only become more unhinged and dangerous, as the golden walls close in around him, and he becomes more isolated.

He will lash out like a snot-nosed baby with a loaded machine gun, and before he is through, the January 6th insurrection will look like a minor skirmish.

The rest of one of the above messages from my buddy, reads like this:

“Hopefully this doesn't lead to some wild outburst when he (Trump) realizes this is happening (his cratering support), but it most certainly will ...”

Yes it will.

One morning this week, he rolled out of his steel-enforced rack, grabbed his nuclear-powered cell phone and went into full, unhinged, bro-mode by launching this beauty on his state-run social media channel:

This is the President of the United States of America at work on a Monday morning.

And let me answer your question, before finishing up:

“No, I don’t know how ANYBODY can support this grotesque, unhinged thug ...”

We’ll never survive three more years of this madness, and I have been of the opinion that Trump and his failing physical and mental health likely won’t either.

Rather than bet on the natural order of things, though, we are better off cautiously hoping that enough people in his revolting base will start to pull the plug on this failed regime, which will help release some of the hot air in a country that is ready to blow sky-high.

It’s worth keeping on eye on Republicans in Congress as we swing into the midterms and they hear from angry constituents who are fed up with Trump and his billionaires’ money-grab, while their costs increase and they discover they are literally paying for this authoritarian takeover.

We must continue to fight like never before, while expecting the absolute worst from a maniac, who has the singular talent of always going lower.

We still have a long road ahead of us, my friends, but for just today, why not pull off to the side of that road, and enjoy the buzz?

• (D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.)