8 very good things that happened to Donald Trump this week

Consider just how much has gone right for him since Monday:

1) The Iowa caucuses on Monday were an absolute debacle, failing to report ANY results until Tuesday afternoon and not getting to 100% of precincts reporting until late Thursday. And amid that chaos, there was no clear winner, with former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie. "The Democrat Caucus is an unmitigated disaster," tweeted Trump on Tuesday. "Nothing works, just like they ran the Country. Remember the 5 Billion Dollar Obamacare Website, that should have cost 2% of that. The only person that can claim a very big victory in Iowa last night is 'Trump.'"

2) In the wake of Iowa, there was a rising sentiment within the Democratic Party -- and among odds-makers -- that Sanders was the most likely nominee against Trump. While most hypothetical general election polls show Sanders leading Trump nationally, the White House -- and many non-Bernie-backing Democrats, believe that the democratic socialist senator would be the party's weakest opponent against the incumbent.

3) Trump's State of the Union speech was lauded by conservatives as both a laundry list of his economic accomplishments and a searing evisceration of the supposedly socialist policies of the Democratic Party. (Democrats, uh, viewed things quite differently.) The House chamber rang out with chants of "four more years!" from Trump's adoring supporters among Republican members of Congress.

4) Trump was acquitted on both articles of impeachment by a near-party line vote. He trumpeted the acquittal repeatedly -- holding up a hard copy of The Washington Post's "Trump Acquitted" front page at his victory "celebration."

5) New Gallup polling showed his job approval at 49%, the highest that number has been in the duration of his presidency. The rise in his overall job approval was due in large part to the fact that 94% of Republicans now approve of the job he is doing. That further rallying of Trump's already very loyal base seems to have a lot to do with the partisan nature of the impeachment process.

6) On Friday, a federal judge threw out a case brought by House Democrats suggesting that Trump had violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution by his refusal to allow them to examine his financial records. (For much more on the emoluments clause and why it matters, check this out.)

7) The US economy added 225,000 new jobs in January, while the unemployment rate stayed quite low at 3.6%.

8) A bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee said that the response by the Obama administration to the evidence of Russian involvement in the 2016 election was inadequate. As The Washington Post wrote about the report: "Political concerns, the report found, played an influential role in the Obama administration's 'tempered' response to the Russian threat, as officials' fears about stoking a politically charged election season with vocal alerts about Russia's activity created a snowball effect, ultimately allowing the Russian campaign to proliferate relatively unchecked."

That's a remarkable five-day run for any politician, but especially one like Trump, who has a very strong tendency to step on his own momentum -- usually with a tweet or an impolitic statement. While Trump tried hard to do just that with his unhinged speech in the wake of his acquittal on Thursday, even the wildness of those remarks didn't really slow what is a remarkably good run of news for the incumbent.

Of course, we are still nine months-ish from the November election. Lots can -- and will -- happen between now and then. Presumably the utter chaos that has engulfed the Democratic nomination fight over the last five days will dissipate somewhat, as New Hampshire votes Tuesday and the race's shape clarifies a bit. And with impeachment now formally behind us, it remains to be seen if Republicans continue to stay as firmly behind Trump as they are right now. (It's hard to improve on 94% job approval.) Plus, there's no telling whether the economy -- or the perception of the economy -- will slow between now and November.

Lots of "ifs." But what we know as of right now is that Trump is sitting in the strongest position to be reelected in November in many months. And that prospect has to make Democrats, who look like they may be in for an extended primary fight, very nervous.