Like the “trickster” figure in literature, Trump uses his far-ranging skills at guile, treachery and humor to undermine the established order to get what he wants. Each time he shatters the standard rules of behavior and persists, Trump resets what’s considered acceptable. This makes him a bigger villain to his foes. But he also makes him a bigger hero to his fans.

As Brian Bennett wrote in Time last spring, Trump’s dexterity at squeezing out of Robert S. Mueller III’s trap had the weird effect of inoculating the president from future probes. Like the brassy villain in a movie, Trump has taken everything the established rules of order could throw at him and has not just survived but thrived. If Mueller and his $32 million investigation and saturation press coverage couldn’t bring Trump down, can we really expect a Trump telephone conversation with a foreign president in which he urges the investigation of his political rival’s clan to break the hold he has on his supporters?…

If Democrats hope to evict Trump from the White House, they’ll have to do better than bang their impeachment pots and pans outside his bedroom window. They’ll have go after his positives and his 2016 campaign promises. Has he made the economy stronger, as he claims? Maybe not. The Federal Reserve Bank just dropped rates to goose an economy feared to be entering a recession. Has he made America safer? More respected? Has he brought China to heel? Built the wall? Locked up Hillary Clinton?