December 27, 2024

Chaos Monkeys Rule!

December 27, 2024 Buck Banks

All hail the arrival of the Chaos Monkeys:
Trump’s band of billionaires, ingrates and flunkies.
They’ve have taken over the zoo,
Which bodes ill for me and you,
Because, as history shows, there’s no honor among thieves.

Trump Can’t Do a Lot of What He Promised, But He Can Bring Panic and Chaos

December 27, 2024 Buck Banks

“Here’s the thing. Trump doesn’t and won’t have the formal powers to do a lot of the things he talks about doing. He can’t just unilaterally take back the Panama Canal or buy Greenland or make U.S. states out of Canadian provinces. He can’t just toss Liz Cheney in jail. He can’t just end Obamacare and replace it, or lower prices or hand eastern Ukraine over to Russia. He can’t compel companies to end DEI hiring practices or trans-friendly employee policies. And he can’t simply deport 10-20 million residents with the wave of his hand. … But he definitely thinks he can do at least some of this. And more importantly, he can create a lot of chaos and panic in the process.”

— Seth Masket for Tusk

Fox News Crushes Cable Competition

December 27, 2024 Buck Banks

72%

Associated Press: “After election night through Dec. 13, the prime-time viewership of MSNBC was an average of 620,000, down 54% from the pre-election audience this year, the Nielsen company said. For the same time comparison, CNN’s average of 405,000 viewers was down 45%. … At Fox News Channel, a favorite news network for Trump fans, the post-election average of 2.68 million viewers is up 13%, Nielsen said. Since the election, 72% of the people watching one of those three cable networks in the evening were watching Fox News, compared to 53% prior to election day.”

Gallup: Onky One in Five Americans Satisfied with State of the Country

December 27, 2024 Buck Banks

19%

A new Gallup poll finds 19% of Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S., slightly lower than the 22% to 26% readings in recent months and the lowest since July.

Day: December 27, 2024

Chaos Monkeys Rule!

Trump Can’t Do a Lot of What He Promised, But He Can Bring Panic and Chaos

— Seth Masket for Tusk

Fox News Crushes Cable Competition

72%

Gallup: Onky One in Five Americans Satisfied with State of the Country

19%

A new Gallup poll finds 19% of Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S., slightly lower than the 22% to 26% readings in recent months and the lowest since July.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“If we don’t stop them or if we didn’t stop them or if we didn’t start, you would have had a nuclear war and they would have taken out many countries because you know what? They’re sick people. They’re angry, they’re sick.”

— President Trump, speaking to reporters about his decision to attack Iran.

“We understand some will reflexively oppose this, people don’t love the idea of war. But people like winners. They are drawn to it. If we do this quickly, I think it will be seen as what it is: successful.”

— A Trump adviser, quoted by NBC News, dismissing the anger of the president’s America First base over attacking Iran.

— David Frum

Numerati

still 44% to 53%

Morning Consult: “Trump approval (44% to 53%) and his foreign policy approval (43% to 52%) are unchanged from pre-strike baselines. The strikes have not moved his numbers immediately.” The country is split: “41% of registered voters say strikes necessary vs. 42% who prefer diplomacy.”

42,695

A federal judge has found that the Internal Revenue Service violated federal law “approximately 42,695 times” when it shared confidential taxpayer addresses with immigration enforcement officials last summer, the Washington Post reports.

61%

A new Reuters-Ipsos poll finds 61% of Americans agreed that President Trump has “become erratic with age.” Just 45% say Trump is “mentally sharp and able to deal with challenges.”

14 points

Democrats hold a 14-point advantage when it comes to voter enthusiasm heading into the midterm elections, according to a new WaPo-ABC News-Ipsos poll. It’s the largest advantage Democrats have had ahead of the midterms since 2006.

27.8 million

Donald Trump’s longest-ever State of the Union address drew 27.8 million viewers across seven broadcast and cable outlets, preliminary Nielsen data showed, a 12% audience drop from Trump’s speech last year, the Hollywood Reporter reports.