"Those who disapprove of Trump do so on the basis of style and substance, not scandal."
Tom Cook, Cook Political Report, April 5, 2019
Donald Trump's poll numbers didn't move this week.
He didn't get a "total EXONERATION!" bump up. He didn't get a fall. The Cook Political Report consultancy reported the same thing that is widespread across polling organizations who looked at public opinion this week. Cook found a Trump approval rating of about 43% with disapproval of 53%.
Real Clear Politics averaged eight polls and shows the following graph, and approval rating: 43% approve of Trump, 53% disapprove. (Their polling includes one consistent outlier polling company, Rasmussen, which showed a 49-49 tie. Rasmussen is always, consistently a pro-Republican skewed firm.)
 |
| Source: Real Clear Politics |
No change in opinion on Trump.
This result does not surprise me. Indeed, it confirms one of the themes of this blog, that Trump has a brand, a persona, and that some people like it and have adopted him as their political hero-advocate, and some people don't. Whether or not Trump was too cosy with Russian spies, or whether he cheats extravagantly on his taxes or his wives or his vendors or his charity simply don't matter because the Trump archetype character is the Bad Boy rule-changer.
This result does not surprise me. Indeed, it confirms one of the themes of this blog, that Trump has a brand, a persona, and that some people like it and have adopted him as their political hero-advocate, and some people don't. Whether or not Trump was too cosy with Russian spies, or whether he cheats extravagantly on his taxes or his wives or his vendors or his charity simply don't matter because the Trump archetype character is the Bad Boy rule-changer.
Trump cheating confirms what people already know and like or dislike. Him being found "not indictable" is exactly what people already know and like/dislike about him, that he skates close to the line, being as dismissive of rules as possible.
Trump's critics on the media have not wavered, and have moved to Round Two: the Southern District of NY and the NY State investigations, plus House Committee investigations.
 |
| Click: Video mashup mocks mainstream media |
Trump's supporters need not fully endorse Trump behavior. Bad is, after all, bad, but Trump's enemies are their enemies, and social media is reveling in circulating material that appears to humiliate the common enemy: MSNBC, CNN, NBC. CBS, academics, pundits, experts, intellectuals, liberals, and Democrats.
News people are mocked for saying Trump is finished, the walls are closing in, Trump is done. They are made to look silly and repetitive and Trump supporters love it.
Trump-the-Bad-Boy rule-breaker hates who they hate.
So the battle lines are drawn.
2 comments:
It is mind boggling to see the evidence that roughly 1 out of every 3 one encounters every day lives in an alternate reality, a mishmash construct of misconceptions, ignorance and flat out denial of facts. 1 out of 3 are clearly not paying attention, and our society allows people the luxury of believing whatever is convenient to justify a self serving narrative. Unfortunately, there is money to be made pandering to these folks and so we are contending with a segment of the media that reinforces all their delusions, from UFOs to Donald Trump's morality.
In the light of this I'd venture that the good news is 2 out of 3 are hanging in there doing their best to live in service to reality, beginning with a dogged refusal to allow truth to be trampled, and with no small amount of faith in it's ultimate triumph over the tsunami of lies coming at us from all sides.
Yes, Trump's numbers are steady as one might expect since they reflect this larger dislocation.
Yes, the battle lines are drawn, but between what and what? Corporate media is just a version of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., to which Trump is closely associated. He gets all his "moves" (fake-outs, etc.) from them and a mesmerized public responds because it's such great drama...reality show made...well...REALITY (for a dumbed-down electorate).
Meanwhile, behind the scenes and under-reported, if at all, real damage is being done from bevy of newly-minted Republican right wing judges to Democrat right-centrist politicians: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dccc-promises-to-blacklist-firms-that-work-with-candidates-challenging-incumbents_n_5c95126ae4b01ebeef0ec3ae
Andy Seles
Post a Comment