Month: January 2019

Trump’s Base Is Turning Against Him

Buck Banks

7 points

A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds President Trump’s approval rating down by a net 7-point change to 39% to 53% over the last month. The movement has come from within key portions of his base: He’s down significantly among suburban men, a net-positive approval rating of 51% to 39% to a net-negative of 42% approve, 48% disapprove. That’s a net change of down 18 percentage points. He’s also down a net of 13 points among white evangelicals and down a net of 10 points among Republicans.

Trump’s Approval Rating Dropping

Buck Banks

40.2%

Nate Silver: “The partial government shutdown is beginning to drag on President Trump’s approval rating, which is at its lowest point in months. As of early Wednesday evening, his approval rating was 40.2 percent, according to our tracking of public polling, down from 42.2 percent on Dec. 21, the day before the shutdown began. It’s his lowest score since last September. And Trump’s disapproval rating was 54.8 percent, up from 52.7 percent before the shutdown. His net approval rating, -14.6 percent, was at its lowest point since February 2018.”

Trump and Putin Have Met Privately Five Times

Buck Banks

5

New York Times: “Mr. Trump has adamantly insisted there was ‘no collusion’ with Russia during his 2016 presidential campaign. But each of the five times he has met with Mr. Putin since taking office, he has fueled suspicions about their relationship. The unusually secretive way he has handled these meetings has left many in his own administration guessing what happened and piqued the interest of investigators.”

Trump Declared Himself a Proud Nationalist Months Ago

Trish

As Trump explained in this October 2018 rally for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), we should take the term “nationalist” literally and use it — a lot. “Use it. Use it,” he told his cheering crowd. The Republican reaction? They hummed loudly, looked into the middle distance and changed the subject.

But now Rep. Steve King (R-IA), a long-regarded racist, is saying almost the same thing Trump said, but leaving in the word, “white” before “nationalist.” Even as he follows the Trump, “Take this literally” line (after all, like Trump, King is white and he is a nationalist), Republicans are reacting like they touched a hot stove.

Well kinda. Cruz said King’s statement was “stupid,” but he didn’t say King is, or that he is racist. Still, why didn’t Ted and all the others call it out when Trump said nearly the same thing? Clearly, it’s those bright yellow stripes down their backs when it comes to criticizing Trump.