Disillusioned with President Trump? Don’t let the left get you down.
No doubt about it, President Trump had a terrible week, low-lighted by his three meetings with the press about the events in Charlottesville, followed by disrespectful comments by weak-kneed corporate CEOs, legislators, and media commentators.
President Trump needs your continued support. (fox11news.com)
He should have left well-enough alone with his initial statement: “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.”
Did he, or his advisors, think a second meeting to name the groups in the melee, would satisfy the press?
Then there was that ill-advised third meeting that was intended to be about infrastructure plans. He allowed himself to again get bogged down with media harassment on his previous statements on Charlottesville.
Then there were those weak-kneed CEOs, who chose to distance themselves from the president. Companies like to schmooze with the president when it serves the interest of their firms. Former GE CEO Jeff Immelt was happy to sit next to President Obama as an advisor, and even laughed along with him when he remarked that “Shovel-ready was … uh … not as we expected.”
“None of the departing CEOs likely believe Mr. Trump is a white supremacist or Nazi sympathizer,” commented Wall Street Journal columnist Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., “They just see no upside to being associated with him.”
The president mistakenly went to his Twitter account to sound off at those who chose to abandon him before he decided to shut down the business councils.
Mark my word, those same CEOs will try to save face when the president passes corporate tax reform.
Of course, the media is quick to report the latest presidential approval rating; a figure that goes down and up with the slightest news. After hovering around 39 percent for days, it rose to 45 percent after the president’s statement on North Korea, and dipped again after his Charlottesville remarks.
What the media prefers not to tell you is that President Trump’s job approval generally averages 50 percent or higher in 17 states. I view factually incomplete stories as “fake” news.
I’m sure you recognize that those approval ratings are driven by the negative media coverage, supported by a Rasmussen poll that reveals that 63 percent of Republicans and 50 percent of all voters believe it’s impossible for Trump to do anything the media will approve of.
Support among his base seems to be confirmed by an Associated Press story that appeared this weekend, “Trump loyalists unwavering in their support.“ Many of the men and women who helped elect Trump seem unfazed by the outcry over his statements concerning the protest and counter protest (in Charlottesville),” the article read.
Interestingly, The New York Times reported that, “around the country, Mr. Trump’s supporters – and, according to many polls, Republicans more broadly – agreed with his interpretation of a swirl of racially charged events and stood with him amid still more clatter and churn.”
The president has three near-term opportunities to boost public opinion – an August 21, nation-wide speech on his winning strategy for Afghanistan, an August 22, rally in Phoenix, where he is sure to solidify his view on bigotry and hatred, and an August 23, speech in Las Vegas at the National American Legion convention
Of course, his real challenge will come with the return of members of Congress from recess, when it is critical that he refrain from Twitter insults and focus on the repeal and replacement of ACA, tax reform and the infrastructure.
A friend e-mailed me with the comment, “Maybe there’s hope,” and forwarded an American Thinker piece by R. Stephen Bowden. Surveying the negative reporting in all of the news outlets, Bowden, writes, “you most likely feel that American is imploding, all due to the chaos of the Trump administration. The goal is to wear you down, if not wear you out, until you agree that Trump must go.”
After reviewing a list of little-reported achievements of the administration, Bowden claims, “Trump is winning – BIGLY. He’s focused on results, period. The rest is just a distraction, much of it orchestrated by anti-Trumpers.”
