With his controversial comments on the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, his pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and now potentially his sunsetting of a popular program that gave young unauthorized immigrants work permits, the president seems increasingly focused on pleasing the 37 percent or so of the public that approves of him, rather than reaching out to any of the 57 percent who disapprove. [...]
Furthermore, Trump’s base already loves him — the vast majority of Republican voters continue to say they approve of the job he’s doing. If he already has his base, why, then, does he need to keep doing new things that please them but repel the majority of the public? [...]
Over the past few years, Trump has deliberately constructed a political brand for himself that he wants to protect. So with moves like the sheriff Joe Arpaio pardon, he could be partly trying to signal to his core supporters that the swamp hasn’t changed him, and that he’s still willing to defy political elites with controversial moves. [...]
Just before his firing from the White House, Steve Bannon made a case to this effect in an interview with the American Prospect. “The Democrats — the longer they talk about identity politics, I got ’em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats,” he said.
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