Donald Trump is coming off one of his roughest weeks as president, at least in his critics' eyes — instigating a U.S. government shutdown fight, provoking his defense chief's resignation, abruptly pulling American troops from two global hot spots, and even thinking about firing the head of the U.S. central bank.
Yet, as hard as it is for the outside world to comprehend, the president and his advisers think all that upheaval adds up to a winning hand.
By digging in on his threat to shut down the government to try to force Congress to fund his border wall on the southern U.S. border, and by drawing down military commitments in Syria and Afghanistan in line with his "America First" doctrine, Trump's satisfying the demands of his most dedicated supporters — and he knows they're the only ones who can keep him in the presidency, said advisers inside and outside the White House.