Powerful people don’t need Trump’s approval anymore

It may be safer to alienate the president now than to cozy up

- MATT K. LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A BLUE WAVE is building offshore, and Republicans are starting to hear the rumble and fear being washed away.

They have good reasons. President Trump's approval rating has slipped to a paltry 36%, which is the political equivalent of your doctor saying, “Technically, you're still alive.”

The notion that Democrats will retake the House has gone from wishful thinking to conventional wisdom — and the possibility they could claw back the Senate is suddenly no longer a joke.

Retirements are accelerating. And if November's elections in New Jersey and Virginia didn't serve as a flashing “warning” signal, this week’s special election in Tennessee might do the trick.

True, Republican Matt Van Epps won by 9 points. But just last year, Trump carried that same district by around 22. That’s a swing of 13 points. I'm no math major, but I'm pretty sure if Republicans spot every Democrat in America a baker's dozen points, the results will be what political scientists call a “whoa, mama” situation.

Indeed, data journalist G. Elliott Morris predicts: “A swing of 13 points would put Dems over 250 seats in the U.S. House” and even a six-point swing “gives them the House, and maybe the Senate.”

Republicans, when they’re being honest, admit this.