GOP/GOVERNMENT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As President Donald Trump’s approval rating falls, the Republican Party is grasping him ever tighter. Gathering in New Mexico, the Republican National Committee’s governing body will take the unusual step Friday of voting to declare the party’s ‘undivided support’ for Trump and his ‘effective presidency.’ Amid concerns about the political fallout from the government shutdown and what might be ahead in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, the RNC move is an attempt to block another Republican from mounting a primary challenge that, even if unsuccessful, could damage Trump going into the general election. More fundamentally, it cements a merger between the RNC and Trump, a onetime Democrat who now asserts full control over virtually every aspect of the GOP.”
–Associated Press, “Trump, GOP Embrace Amid Political Fallout From Shutdown,” The New York Times online, January 23, 2019