Bedminster (United States) (AFP) - Beset by investigations, dire approval ratings and growing party dissent, Donald Trump is stirring up his base, hoping to mobilize an army of political shock troops to protect his presidency.
Revelations that a grand jury has been impaneled to investigate his finances and his campaigns ties to Russia raises the specter of indictments and subpoenas that would shake any administration.
But for Trump, who is just six months into his presidency, it represents more turmoil after an exodus of top White House officials and humiliating recent reverses in Congress.
Despite a healthy economy, a new poll by the Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University shows his approval rating at 33 percent -- the same level endured by Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal or George W. Bush after the grind of the Iraq war.
Facing the prospect of limping through another three and a half years, Trump is settling on a strategy of shoring up the support of voters who propelled him to the White House with a series of right-wing policy announcements and red-blooded speeches.
In little more than a week, Trump has encouraged police to dole out rough justice, summarily threatened to kick transgender personnel out of the military and played up the threat of Hispanic gangs.
