It would be easy to say that President Trump is sinking fast in
approval polls like the Titanic. Too
easy.
A better comparison—nautically speaking—would be to the Swedish warship Vasa, launched
with great anticipation in 1628. She appeared formidable, armed as she was with
64 bronze cannon. Constructed over a two year period, the warship set sail on
her maiden voyage on August 10.
A mile into the trip a powerful wind caught the vessel’s
sails and Vasa’s top heavy design
proved as fatal as a self-inflicted injury from a string of petulant tweets.
The warship heeled over, water poured through open gun ports, cannon broke
loose and careened across the slanting decks, crushing sailors and smashing
everything in their path, and down the Vasa
went.
 |
| Anticipation was high; the voyage did not well. (The Vasa was raised from the bottom and restored in 1961,) |
Today’s polls show Trump headed for the bottom of the political
harbor almost as quickly. His shrinking band of supporters will surely insist polls
are rigged—also insist Obama is a Muslim—also millions of illegal immigrants
voted in 2016—also Russians never hacked the election.
Only the polls during aren’t rigged. They might be off a
few points, as they were during the general election. But if you’re Steve
Bannon or Kellyanne Conway or even Melania, today’s figures are grim. Our new
president hasn’t hit Richard M. Nixon levels yet, but seems in a hurry to get
there.
How explain the plunge? A Three Stooges campaign to “repeal
and replace” played a role. A Dumb and
Dumber rollout on the travel ban did nothing to inspire confidence in the people
in charge.
Still, if Mr. Trump feels bad, he can take solace in noting
that his approval numbers are better than those of the GOP Congress.
Their approval rating: 13%.
What else drives current poll numbers? A National Security
Advisor asking for immunity doesn’t help—even if Sean Hannity spends half of
ever show talking about imaginary wiretaps. Nepotism doesn’t sit well with Americans,
either. A cabinet jam-packed with oligarchs and Wall Street predators, the same
type of crew Trump promised to fight during the campaign, can’t be good. Nor do
most people like a cruel budget plan featuring cuts to programs like Meals on
Wheels and home heating assistance for the elderly poor. Well, screw those old
goats, President Trump might say. They’re “losers.” He loves that word! They’re “sad!” He loves
that word, too. If they were “winners” they could afford heat and also the
$200,000 fee to join the gang at Mar-a-Lago.
Yes, you read that right: The fee to become a member of the
Trump club doubled recently; but don’t you dare think the Trump clan is cashing
in on their new political connections. Oh, no.
Who would think they’d do that!
Trump’s time in office has been short. His list of blunders
grows daily. You might worry about new policies that will allow for-profit
colleges to get back to the lucrative business of screwing students. Scott
Pruitt, a tool of Big Oil, heading up the EPA, might not strike you as healthy
for the planet or promising for the future of your children or grandchildren. You
might believe building a wall along the border won’t do any good and believe it
was stupid to promise Mexico would pay for it in the first place.
In the end, the real story behind the sinking numbers may
come down to something more fundamental. Most of us don’t like it when we see
people acting like dicks in meetings or bars or on the sidelines of kid’s
soccer games.
That’s the real problem. So far, President Trump has been
acting like a giant dick in the Oval Office.
THE GRIM, GRIMMER, GRIMMEST NUMBERS:
Melissa Storms replied on Facebook: John Viall. Great read!
ReplyDeleteTim Viall (my brother) responded via Facebook: Let's not forget that Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million voters, and about 60 million voters were too disgusted with both candidates to bother to vote for either. So, he got about 29% of the potential total vote. With some of Trump's voters beginning to wake up to the disgrace they elected, it's no wonder he's sinking like a rock.
ReplyDeleteMark Napier (all responses on Facebook unless otherwise noted): I toured that ship. Sunk in a light wind in the harbor because it was way too top-heavy with canon. I think there's a metaphor for our country in there somewhere.
ReplyDeleteKelly Harris, a conservative friend, responded: The day before the election the polls had Hillary winning by a lot!!!
ReplyDeleteSo I checked RealClearPolitics numbers in the week leading up to the election. They had Clinton winning by 3 points; she won the popular vote by 2.
Patrick Lahley, a friend of a friend, didn't like the post: Its all a bunch of bull. Embarrassing losers. Grow up.
ReplyDeleteStephen Lewis, another conservative friend of a friend, agreed with Mr. Lahley: Yes this is kinda like the polls before the election do not be deceived.
ReplyDeleteI posted the numbers from RealClearPolitics again. Polling averages off by about 1 percent. That means Trump might only be down 15 or 20, something like that.
Mark Powell, one of my conservative friends, weighed in with this: Well he paid to build Trump Tower, and all the other Trump locations. I was just wondering how much you're charging him.
ReplyDeleteSounds like he's living in your head "rent free".
I responded to Mark: I do enjoy mocking his failed repeal and replace, his goodbye to General Flynn, his climate denier head of the EPA, his doubling the fee at Mar-a-Lago, his failure to tear up the Iran nuclear deal on his first day in office, his petulant tweets, his hypocritical golfing after blasting Obama for playing, his delusional belief that millions of illegals voted, and his dimwitted inability to come to grips with the fact (attested to by everyone except Sean Spicer) that the Russians hacked the election.
ReplyDelete