I still don’t know whether Donald Trump’s presidency is going to crash and burn or if he’s going to go down as one of the greatest presidents in history. With a mouth like his, coupled with a remarkable lack of self-control and an incomparable talent for making people angry, anything is possible. If I were a bookie, I wouldn’t even take bets on this one.

But what worries me even more about Trump is his desire to be loved. It makes him vulnerable to sycophants, and Washington D.C. is awash with that particular species of cockroach. What Trump needs to do is rise above his insecure desire to be loved and be very careful about whom he includes in his inner circle.

He may be a lot smarter than me overall, but I’m not sure he understands that the more indiscriminate you are when it comes to seeking the approval of others, the less likely it is that those from whom you seek approval will respect you. I’ve read a number of stories about Trump over the years that clearly illuminated this weakness, and in his case it could be fatal.

That he has chosen to side with Paul Ryan and his RINO pals against the House Freedom Caucus is not a good sign for those who have high hopes that DT will actually do what he promised to do during his campaign. There’s no question that he’s doing pretty well with his checklist thus far, but the healthcare debacle shined a bright light on what might be his Achilles heel.

Lou Dobbs has had it right for a long time: Throughout his career, Paul Ryan has been worthless at best and, at worst, an out-and-out enemy of the American people. In my view, he represents everything that’s wrong with the GOP. And, to boot, he does not like Donald Trump!

Anyone who thinks otherwise has been sleepwalking the past two years. One would hope that Steve Bannon is urging Trump to get Ryan out of the way, because if he is not able to do so, that one mistake could doom his presidency.

But Trump is a man who never ceases to surprise, so for all I know he may have a plan to force Ryan out at just the right time. He certainly was successful in humoring MittMan into shutting his foul mouth while he was picking his cabinet. And he even played along with exchanging B.S. comments with Obama for a while, so you can never be sure what he’s thinking.

I should also add that even though I didn’t like the fact that he was willing to go along with a bill that a majority of people felt was as bad or worse than Obamacare, I do like his talking about getting up off the mat and coming right back with a revised version of the bill. If so, he should listen to what Charles Krauthammer said Republicans should do, because this is one time I believe CK has it right.

Paraphrasing Krauthammer’s words in the simplest way possible, Republicans should put together a bill that has the best ideas of the Freedom Caucus, moderates, and RINOs, then unanimously (among Republicans) pass it in the House, knowing that the Dirty Dems will make sure it doesn’t go anywhere in the Senate.

What’s good about this approach is that Democrats would then be on record as turning down the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, thus the DDs who are running in 2018 would be unable to hide from the Obamacare disaster. Of course, I am painfully aware that it’s always a mistake to believe you have the Democrats trapped, because they have an uncanny ability to project their bad deeds onto Republicans and lie their way out of virtually anything — but it’s still worth a try.

As to the overall success or failure of his presidency, I believe that the only way Trump can hope to make even a small number of significant swamp-draining changes in Crime City is to adopt a scorched-earth mentality, a la Saul Alinsky. Which means never back down, never compromise, and never give in.

As I have repeatedly warned, the SOP of the Dirty Dems is to lie, steal, cheat, and deceive with impunity, so anyone who is dumb enough, or naïve enough, to try to “reach across the aisle” (a euphemism for totally giving in) and work with the Democratic miscreants has no chance whatsoever of succeeding.

One last piece of advice for President Trump: When the Dirty Dems yell and scream hysterically that this or that Republican should recuse himself or resign, they should be totally ignored. Did you ever see Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Susan Rice, or Horrible Hillary recuse themselves or resign from any position, even though all of them were caught either lying under oath, lying on national television, or worse. Meeting on her private plane with Bill Clinton was simply brushed aside by puppet Loretta Lynch, and her boss simply acted as though it never happened.

That’s why it’s so important that Devin Nunes ignore his critics and refuse to recuse himself from the “Russian investigation” (which is really the investigation of illegal leaks that point straight to Obama). Horrible Hillary can delete tens of thousands of emails, smash a dozen Blackberries to smithereens, get caught repeatedly lying under oath, and not even receive a slap on the wrist. But Devin Nunes should resign for talking to his boss, the president?

Unfortunately, it’s not just Trump who has a problem with wanting to be loved. In fact, one of the biggest differences between Republicans and Democrats is that all Republicans want to be loved, while Democrats have no time for love. They are interested only in money and power.

That’s why Republican toady Walter Jones of North Carolina has already joined the Dirty Dems in demanding that Nunes step aside. (The unctuous Rep. Jones already has co-sponsored an otherwise all-Democratic bill to establish an independent commission to probe claims of Russian attempts to influence the U.S. election.)

Now, word on the street is that new EPA chief Scott Pruitt, who is famous for filing a number of lawsuits against the EPA, is going soft on his previous hard-nosed stance against fictitious climate-change science. It’s yet another rerun of a very old movie: Republican Wimps Surrender Again!

Message for Donald Trump: Contrary to what you may think, you do not have a majority in either the House or the Senate, because the reality is that a goodly number of Republicans will always choose the “please love me” route and vote with the Dirty Dems rather than doing what they know is good for the American people. However, a small number of Republicans do stick to their principles, which is why their members are always fighting among themselves. And the Dirty Dems, who always march in lockstep like the zombies they are, love every minute of it.

Let’s be honest here, folks: Trump can’t come close to completely draining the swamp. But if he can’t curb his desire to be loved and get an obvious swamp creature like Paul Ryan out of his agenda plans — and lock arms with the truest conservatives in his party — James Carville’s prediction (following Obama’s 2008 victory) that the Democrats would be in power for forty years may come true after all.

In fact, if the Dirty Dems ever get control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, I would unhesitatingly predict they will throw out the Constitution and establish a dictatorship. That’s why Trump needs to go after them first, starting, as I have repeatedly stated, with the prosecution of the Cackling Creature from Chappaqua.

Take Hannity’s advice, Mr. President, and simply do exactly what you said you would do. Then I’d be willing to wager on your success.