Today’s Impeach-O-Meter: Donald Trump Has Angered the Turtle

In the tradition of the Clintonometer and the Trump Apocalypse Watch, the Impeach-O-Meter is a wildly subjective and speculative daily estimate of the likelihood that Donald Trump leaves office before his term ends, whether by being impeached (and convicted) or by resigning under threat of same.

The New York Times has a fun if vague story about how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (who looks like a turtle) thinks Donald Trump is a big dope:

In offhand remarks, Mr. McConnell has expressed a sense of bewilderment about where Mr. Trump’s presidency may be headed, and has mused about whether Mr. Trump will be in a position to lead the Republican Party into next year’s elections and beyond, according to people who have spoken to him directly.

Part of this may have to do with Trump still failing to understand that his problems—namely putting his weight behind unpopular partisan health care reform measures he clearly didn’t understand and shooting himself in the foot by firing James Comey—are not someone else’s fault:

During the call, which Mr. Trump initiated on Aug. 9 from his New Jersey golf club, the president accused Mr. McConnell of bungling the health care issue. He was even more animated about what he intimated was the Senate leader’s refusal to protect him from investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to Republicans briefed on the conversation.

With this story and the recent exodus of CEOs from Trump’s advisory councils, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the GOP establishment would prefer a President Pence. On the other hand, Trump is still quite popular among self-identified Republican voters, i.e. the kinds of people who vote in Republican primaries, and he doesn’t really need donor money to communicate to them given that he has his mouth, a Twitter account, and the existence of cable news. It’s tough to kill the king when he has all the weapons!