Forget the hysterical mainstream media — America likes Trump’s agenda, including his immigration
In its hysteria-driven coverage of President Trump’s immigration order, the mainstream media forgot to mention this: most of the country supports it.
A recent Quinnipiac poll indicated that 48 percent of the nation approves of “suspending immigration from terror prone regions, even if it means turning away refugees,” while 42 percent oppose such a measure.
In contrast, Americans did not agree with Obama’s decision to open the door to more Syrian refugees; at the end of 2015, a Quinnipiac poll revealed that 51 percent of the country stood against the move, while only 43 percent supported it.
There is the problem for Democrats — even as they rant and rave over Donald Trump’s assault on the progressive values of the elite establishment, consumer confidence has soared to 12-year highs.
How can that be? Here’s the key, which the mainstream media has ignored for eight years: President Obama was personally popular, but his policies were not. Conversely, President Trump personally scores low approval ratings, but he is pushing an agenda that has the support of most Americans.
Chuck Schumer has vowed to fight Trump “tooth and nail” and has made good on that threat by slow-walking confirmation of the president’s cabinet appointees. The Senate Minority Leaders’ opposition is knee-jerk payback for years of GOP obstructionism.
The problem for Mr. Schumer is this: the GOP resisted Obama’s policies because the majority of the country didn’t like them. That’s why Republicans gained ground over the past eight years, earning decisive off-year election victories.
Voters in 2010 and 2014 elected representatives who would oppose President Obama’s initiatives, giving the GOP control of the House and then the Senate.
If Democrats were caught off guard by this turn of events, they can blame their pals in the media, who were so enamored of President Obama that they failed to honestly assess the mood of the country.
Approval for ObamaCare never rose above 50 percent. Obama’s 2014 executive amnesty for people in the country illegally was similarly unpopular, with an NBC poll showing that 48 percent disapproved of his approach, and only 38 percent supported it. Meanwhile, some 57 percent of the country disapproved of the nuclear deal with Iran, while only 30 percent were in favor of it. Republicans were right to resist these and other wrong-headed Obama policies.
The situation is now reversed. Ironically, Trump enters office with high negative ratings, but people like what he’s doing. Polling shows most Americans favor walking away from the TPP and stopping the Syrian refugee program. They have always backed the Keystone XL Pipeline.
If Democrats now become the Party of No, as the GOP was derisively called, in a childish retaliatory spat, they will further alienate the broad majority of Americans who are frustrated with stagnant earnings and low growth.
Democrats are already in trouble, having lost more than 1,000 congressional and state legislative seats and governorships – a staggering total –– during Obama’s tenure. They will only compound their vanishing act if they fight the Trump agenda.
Americans have short attention spans, so it is worth reminding all those teary-eyed Obama fans pining for “four more years,” that their champion was not as successful as his recent approval ratings might suggest. It was only at the beginning and in the final months of his tenure that his popularity rose much over 50 percent. Over his eight years Obama’s average approval rating was 47.9 percent, beating out only Truman, Ford, and Carter, and falling below all others, including G.W. Bush and Richard Nixon.
The reasons for Obama’s mediocre ratings? Jobs and security. Obama never made job creation his number one priority. He never placed the safety of Americans above his globalist progressive agenda.
That is why the country elected Donald Trump. His priorities are clear: putting Americans back to work and defeating radical Islamic terrorism.
His initial moves target those objectives. Approving the Keystone XL was a slam-dunk. In 2015 when Obama decided against the pipeline, a CNN/ORC poll showed that 57 percent of the country wanted it built; only 28 percent opposed it.
What about the TPP? Rasmussen reports that 56 percent of the country favors walking away from the multination trade deal, while 27 percent disagrees.
How about cutting the size of the federal government? According to Rasmussen, voters agree by a two-to-one margin. More than half applaud Trump’s prioritizing “America First” and 73 percent think it’s more important to protect American manufacturing jobs that keep prices low.
While Americans may back most of the Trump agenda, few will applaud the seemingly disorganized way the recent immigration order was rolled out. The country elected CEO Trump in part because they wanted successful implementation of Populist Trump policies.
Some missteps are to be expected. Many of Trump’s cabinet picks are political neophytes like himself; mistakes will be made and there will be a learning curve. But, the White House needs to recognize how snafus can undermine Trump’s agenda, and make sure program details are buttoned down in advance of their announcement.
Bottom line: The country needs Trump to succeed.
Published here.
