Trump’s Policies Exploding Trade Deficit

$891.2 billion

The U.S. posted a record-breaking $891.2 billion merchandise trade deficit in 2018, despite President Trump’s “America First” policies, the Washington Post reports. “Trump’s tariffs and tough policies have failed to shrink a trade gap that he argues represents a massive transfer of wealth from Americans to foreigners. He begins his reelection drive with a core campaign promise unfulfilled — and with a recent flurry of economic research showing that his embrace of tariffs is damaging the U.S. economy.”

T-Mobile Used Trump Hotel Stays to Parlay Influence

$195,000

“T-Mobile’s patronage of President Trump’s Washington hotel increased sharply after the announcement of its merger with Sprint last April, with executives spending about $195,000 at the property since then, the company told congressional Democrats in a letter last month,” the Washington Post reports. “Before news of the megadeal between rival companies broke on April 29, 2018, the company said, only two top officials from T-Mobile had ever stayed at Trump’s hotel, with one overnight stay each in August 2017.”

Trump’s Rating on Economy Hits New High

56%

A new Gallup poll finds President Trump’s rating for handling the economy, 56%, is the highest of his presidency and the highest of his approval ratings on any of 14 domestic and foreign issues tested. At the same time, his overall 43% job approval rating is essentially unchanged from a month ago but appears to be stabilizing at a higher level than it had been in late 2018 and early 2019.

‘Somone Else’ Would Beat Trump in Texas

45%

A new University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll finds a slight majority of Texas voters would choose someone other than Donald Trump in a presidential race held right now. “While 45% said they would ‘definitely vote for someone else,’ 39% said they would ‘definitely vote to re-elect Donald Trump.’ But the president got 10% who said they would ‘probably vote to re-elect Donald Trump,’ and only 6% said they would ‘probably vote for someone else.’ … If you count the leaners on both sides, that would be a virtual tie between Trump and an unnamed opponent.”