WASHINGTON — Say what you will about the extended obsequies being tendered to the late John McCain this weekend, but all the talk about bipartisanship and our present toxic political partisanship is landing at a time when, according to those people who talk to ABC News, anyway, the most toxic creature produced by the current climate has pretty much worn out his welcome.

The numbers are terrifying and the slide seems to be accelerating. If McCain's last act as a public figure was to troll the president* with McCain's own funeral rites, he couldn't have contrived a better circumstance in which to do so.

Sixty percent in the national survey disapprove of Trump’s performance in office, numerically the highest of his presidency, albeit by a single point; that includes 53 percent who disapprove strongly, more than half for the first time. Thirty-six percent approve, matching his low.

OK, given the president*'s performance, it's just logical that his disapproval rating is approaching lunar orbit, but the really giddy numbers involve Robert Mueller's investigation and the possibility of impeaching the president*.

The national survey, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, finds that half the public supports Congress initiating impeachment proceedings against Trump, 49-46 percent; support rises to 57 percent among women. And support for the investigation running its course is broader: Americans overall back Mueller’s probe by 63-29 percent. Fifty-two percent support it strongly, a high level of strong sentiment.

Suspicions of the president relating to the Mueller investigation are substantial. Sixty-one percent say that if assertions by Cohen are true, Trump broke the law. Fifty-three percent also think Trump obstructed special counsel Robert Mueller’s work...In Trump’s dispute with Attorney General Jeff Sessions for allowing the investigation to proceed, the public sides with Sessions, 62-23 percent. Sixty-four percent also oppose the idea of Trump firing Sessions; just 19 percent support it. Further, while Trump has railed against the Manafort prosecution, Americans call it justified by an overwhelming 67-17 percent, including nearly half of Republicans. The public opposes Trump pardoning Manafort by essentially the same margin, 66-18 percent, with 53 percent strongly opposed. Even among Republicans, 45 percent oppose a Manafort pardon; 36 percent support it.

Bear in mind that this is at a time in which the Democratic Party would rather talk about exotic livestock diseases than about impeachment. (The Republicans, on the other hand, are using it as a scarecrow to rile up the goobers, but every time a prominent Republican mentions impeachment, more people stroke their chins and think, "Hmm. Sounds interesting. Maybe we should give it a try.") What also is clear— from these numbers, at least—is that the president*'s recent ravings aren't landing with the power they once had. It's hard to avoid the notion that the country is just getting sick of this bag of clowns and mountebanks and would like a little normality to return before the kids have to go back to school.

And, on Saturday, there will be a huge memorial service for John McCain at the National Cathedral. Two presidents will speak. Pundits will continue to gush. Comparisons will fly thick and fast and none of them will be complimentary to the current occupant of the White House. Damn, John McCain. You may have given everyone the last laugh.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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