Month: January 2019

North Korea Still Building Missles

Buck Banks

20-plus

Bloomberg: “Satellite-imagery analysis and leaked American intelligence suggest North Korea has churned out rockets and warheads as quickly as ever in the year since Kim halted weapons tests, a move that led to his June summit with Trump. The regime probably added several intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear proliferation analysts say, with one arms control group estimating that Kim gained enough fissile material for about six more nuclear bombs, bringing North Korea’s total to more than 20.”

Trump’s Disapproval Rising Among Whites Without College Degrees

Buck Banks

47%

Amid the longest government shutdown in US history, a new CNN poll finds 55% of Americans say Donald Trump bears more responsibility for it than the Democrats in Congress, and the President’s disapproval rating has climbed five points since last month to 57%. Key finding: “The increase in disapproval for the President comes primarily among whites without college degrees, 45% of whom approve and 47% disapprove, marking the first time his approval rating with this group has been underwater in CNN polling since February 2018.”

Trump Claims He Didn’t Conceal Contents of Putin Meetings

Buck Banks

“I’m not keeping anything under wraps, I couldn’t care less. I mean, it’s so ridiculous. These people make it up. I have many one-on-ones, nobody ever says anything about it, but with Putin they say, ‘Oh what did they talk about?’ We talked about very positive things. … Anybody could have listened to that meeting, that meeting is open for grabs. The whole Russia thing it’s a hoax, it’s a terrible hoax, everybody knows it.

— ”President Trump, telling Fox News that he did not try to conceal conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Americans Blame Trump, GOP for Trump’s Shutdown

Buck Banks

53%

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that by a wide margin, more Americans blame President Trump and Republicans in Congress than congressional Democrats for the now record-breaking government shutdown, and most reject the president’s assertion that there is an illegal-immigration crisis on the southern border. Key findings: “53% say Trump and the Republicans are mainly at fault, and 29% blame the Democrats in Congress. Thirteen percent say both sides bear equal responsibility for the shutdown. That is identical to the end of the 16-day shutdown in 2013, when 29% blamed then-President Barack Obama and 53% put the responsibility on congressional Republicans.”

Declaring an Emergency Would Be a Loss, Not a Win

Buck Banks

But taking away disaster-relief money? We have no idea what kind of electoral effect that would have because no president has ever done anything that stupid. (Okay, I can think of one possible equivalent, President Jimmy Carter’s ill-fated grain embargo before the 1980 election. It’s hard to say how much that hurt him, but emulating Carter’s famous mistakes really isn’t something to be proud of.) Let’s just say that if there’s anything voters might remember that long and actually punish above and beyond their normal voting behavior it would be taking away tangible benefits from them in a time of need. … That’s all on top of an unpopular shutdown over an unpopular policy by an unpopular president.

— Jonathan Bernstein

Trump’s Approval Dropping

Buck Banks

41%

According to FiveThirtyEight’s presidential approval tracker, 41.0 percent approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 53.9 percent disapprove (a net approval rating of -12.9 points). That’s a drop from one week ago when, 41.4 percent of Americans approved and 53.4 percent disapproved of the president (a net approval rating of -12 points). And it’s an even greater decline from one month ago when he had an approval rating of 42.1 percent and a disapproval rating of 52.6 percent, for a net approval rating of -10.5 points.