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Trump Approval Implodes, Staffers PANIC
A new CNN poll shows Donald Trump’s job approval rating down to a slim 38%, around the lowest of his entire presidency. CNN also has Joe Biden up by an absolutely ridiculous 14-point lead, 55% to 41%. Trump’s campaign aides are privately expressing concern over the President’s chances and are urging him to change his approach. There’s no doubt that Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus and the George Floyd protests are contributing to his declining popularity.
Donald Trump’s messaging strategy for November isn’t all that clear yet. If Trump continues to threaten Free Speech and promises to “dominate” protesters, his numbers are likely to stay low. Switching to a message of unification might also not go well for him. It’s not clear people would believe Trump’s change of heart and this would likely flip some of his most ardent supporters. A major variable for Trump’s reelection chances will be whether the country is still actively debating today’s top issues in November.
Trump Sets Record, 200 Tweets in a Day, 74 in an Hour
Donald Trump set a new record for himself on Friday, sending out 200 tweets and re-tweets in a single day. Between 8:00 and 9:00 am, Trump sent 74 tweets, his most ever in one hour. With the country in turmoil over one of the worst instances of police brutality ever caught on camera, the President is tweeting in a bunker with extra fencing surrounding the perimeter of the White House. The absence of leadership and the disconnect between Trump and the American people are incredibly clear.
Typically when we do these stories, we’ll go through some of Trump’s tweets and analyze them. Sometimes major policy decisions are announced via tweet so they have to be covered. Other times, they provide valuable insight into the president’s depraved thought processes. With Friday’s tweets, there was none of that. It was just erratic behavior. And I don't want to glorify or lend credence to any one message that Trump sent by actually reading the tweets. Over three years in, it can still be hard to believe this man is the President of the United States.
From over the weekend:
Caller: Trump Could End Up Easily Winning Re-Election
A caller on last Friday’s show argued that even though Donald Trump’s election chances don’t look good now, a lot can change between now and November. He also mentioned that Republicans always seem to do well as an opposition party, and that a Biden victory would merely be the start of a new political battle.
--More on the show:
--Corporate media and Trump uncritically repeat admittedly false unemployment numbers, exactly as predicted by our segment two weeks ago on "garbage math"
--Some on the left are missing the real story when ti comes to Mitt Romney, Colin Powell, and possibly George W. Bush abandoning Donald Trump
--As "abolish the police," "defund the police," and other similar slogans quickly spread, we explore whether this is the right approach to fix the problems with our police departments
--The black-and-white argument over whether government is "good" or "bad" completely missed the realities of how we should evaluate what government should or should not be involved in
--Donald Trump's Attorney General William Barr plays semantic games over the teargassing of protesters, arguing that pepper spray "is not a chemical irritant"
--Do you have any idea what today's voicemail caller is talking about?
--On the Bonus Show: Fox apologizes for bizarre graphic linking black deaths to stock market gains, SCOTUS considers qualified immunity for police, NY Times editor resigns over Tom Cotton editorial, much more...
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Looks like Trump finally got his wall--around The White House. Not quite where he wanted it but, hey, nothing's perfect. This should contain him until he is shipped off to Elba Island where he can commiserate with another despot, the Emperor Napoleon. They will discover just how similar they are, down to their tiny hands, which is why Napoleon's portrait obscures his hand inside the waistcoat.