Tag: polls

Trump Has Had a Terrible October… The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

October has not been good to President Trump. He has implemented many policies that are ethically deficient and economically disastrous. With just a few days left in the month, here are the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good

  • Before I dive into the long list of bad events in Trump’s October, I will mention the one (semi) positive action of his presidency: he deserves credit for brokering a ceasefire in Gaza. Nevertheless, he was premature, naïve and arrogant in labeling it as an “everlasting peace” The ceasefire has held…barely but the president does seem to be trying to follow through on his commitments. He sent the top people in his cabinet to Israel last week: Special Envoy Witkoff, VP Vance, and Secretary of State Rubio. When israel’s Knesset voted in favor of annexing parts of the West Bank, Trump said “Never”. I hope he keeps his word about the Gazans having “self-determination”. This sounds like a “2 state” solution, at best, or at the very least, a permanent international peace council that guarantees stability in Gaza. (the latest bad news is that Israel has renewed heavy bombing in Gaza.)
  • If Trump would use his “art of the deal” skills to broker a just, lasting peace in Ukraine, I might even support his Noble Peace Prize quest.

The Bad

  • George Santos was one of the most despicable members of the House of Representatives in recent history. He was elected to the House in 2022 and was sworn in as a member in January, 2023 but evidence soon surfaced regarding his lack of integrity. Santos admitted to having lied about his education and employment history, and his disclosures about his business activities, income, and personal wealth were sketchy at best. Furthermore, he had not disclosed his criminal history or the existence of lawsuits against him. Following an investigation by the House Ethics Committee and a federal indictment, the House of Representatives (including half of the Republicans) voted 311–114 to expel Santos on December 1, 2023. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft in August 2024. He was sentenced to 87 months in prison, but had only served three months when President Trump commuted his sentence a week ago. Although presidents have the authority to pardon federal prisoners and/or commute their sentences, there was no good reason for Trump to show him leniency (except for the fact that both are frequently guilty of lying).
  • “It’s the economy, stupid.” This phrase was coined by James Carville, a strategist/advisor for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992, but it aptly applies to the highest priority for most American voters. Trump made the economy his most important theme in the 2024 campaign. He repeatedly promised that he would “lower prices” on groceries, housing, energy, etc. Note carefully: this means an inflation rate of below zero. Last week, even during the government shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that inflation rose 0.3% during the month of September for an annual rate of over 3%. This is slightly worse than the inflation rate during the last year of the Biden presidency. Nevertheless, many Americans “feel” that inflation is much worse. Coffee prices are up 20% and beef is up 15%, American voters might be more forgiving if the president at least made some effort to lower inflation instead of his obsession with tariffs (=tax increases) or bailing out Argentina (see below).
  • “Don’t cry for me Argentina.” Out of the clear blue, Trump offered the Argentina government a $20 billion “bailout” now, with a promise of another $20 billion in the near future. This has no relationship with making America great again. Rather, it seems to be due to Trump’s friendship with Argentina’s austerity president Javier Milei. This bailout has raised opposition from two of Trump’s traditional supporters: farmers and ranchers. and they are angry. Trump’s tariffs on China prompted them to stop all purchases of U.S. soybeans. Now they are buying soybeans from Argentina. The president then aggravated his supporters even more by buying tons and tons of beef from Argentina to bring down meat prices for American consumers.
  • The Federal Government shutdown is now the second longest in US history. The Democrats blame the Republicans…and vice versa. Furloughed Federal employees are working without pay. Air travel is reduced as many air traffic controllers are calling in sick. The SNAP food program runs out of funds on November 1st and 42 million recipients (children, women, retirees, and veterans) will no longer be eligible to receive food. The USDA has blocked release of contingency funds which were designed to cover shutdowns (funds already authorized by Congress). Back in 2013, businessman Trump said that a government shutdown is due to the president’s lack of leadership, because a strong leader would bring all the key players into a room and negotiate a fair deal. The American people agree with the earlier Trump and generally blame the damage caused by a federal shutdown on the person in the White House.
  • President Trump has flirted with the idea of running for a third term as president. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution prohibits a person from being elected to the presidency a third time. Even the Speaker of the House Johnson has grown some backbone and now confirms the Constitution’s prohibition of a third presidency. Many are seeing Trump’s flirtation with a third term as covering up his fear of becoming a “lame duck” president so early into his 2nd term.
  • The national polls reveal the country’s growing discontent. Trump won the presidential election last year with slightly less than 50% of the popular vote. As he began his presidency, the polls showed he had an approval rate of about 54-58%. Those same polls now show his approval rate ranging between 37 and 42%. After his disastrous debate performance with Trump last year, former President Biden’s weak approval rate was the same as Trump’s is today.
  • This brief analysis of bad news could continue for quite a while. To keep it short, here is just an additional listing: a judge’s ruling against ICE in Chicago, the on again/of again trade/tariff talks with China, Trump is still getting played by Putin as the war in Ukraine goes way past Day One,  getting sued by 25 states over SNAP, having to shake up the leadership of ICE, the warlike strikes against boats off of Venezuela and Colombia without getting authorization from Congress.

The Ugly

  • President Trump has repeatedly declared that he would not object to the Jeffrey Epstein files being released to the public. At the same time, he has doggedly fought against their release. Through Speaker Mike Johnson, Adelita Grijalva has been blocked from being sworn into her seat in the House because her vote would force the files to be released. All of this has led to speculation that the files have some horrible “dirt” on the president. The people deserve to know the truth…even if it is ugly.
  • The Big Beautiful? Ballroom. In the midst of the shutdown when many are not receiving their paychecks and their kitchens are bare, Trump initiated the destruction of the East Wing of the People’s House in order begin construction of the White House Ballroom which would seat 999 guests. He had promised it would be adjacent to, but not touching, the East Wing. He lied. The East Wing is now totally gone. Its destruction symbolizes the more serious destruction of our democracy. Truly ugly.

Let’s hope the news gets better after Halloween.

Trump and Democrats Drop To All Time Lows in Approval Ratings: What Should They Do?

According to the Gallop poll released last week, President Trump hit an all-time low in approval ratings. Only 37% of Americans approve of Trump’s performance in his second term. Even on his best issues (immigration, tariffs, national debt) his poll numbers are negative. As a political party, the Democrats find themselves in a similar situation. A Wall Street Journal poll shows that 63% of the American public view the Democrat party unfavorably (the Republicans polled slightly better). I don’t believe Trump and party leaders are suffering low ratings due to their moral righteousness or great policies. No, they are due to their ethical and political failures. Everyone needs a deep dose of repentance, a significant change in attitude and actions. I respectfully suggest the following areas that merit attention.

President Trump

  1. Stop your lying – You have a troubled history with the truth. You dilute and distort it with multiple falsehoods. Some of your lies might play well with your base, but they are not true. For example, let’s look at your comments on tariffs. Tariffs are essentially taxes. You have frequently claimed that billions of dollars will flow into our country as foreign countries pay the cost of the tariffs/taxes. That is a lie. Foreign countries do not pay the tariffs that the U.S. government charges on imported goods. Foreign companies do not pay the tariffs. U.S. companies (think Walmart) pay the money. This is an additional cost added to the product. Walmart might absorb some of this cost, but to maintain their profits they need to pass on the major part of these costs to the consumer. (Even my beloved Hershey‘s Chocolate has recently announced a double digit increase in their prices.) Let me summarize. Mr. Trump, neither foreign countries nor foreign companies pay for your tariffs/taxes. American companies and we, the consumers, pay these taxes. Stop lying about your tariffs.

Some of your lies are just plain weird. Two weeks ago, you told a story about your uncle, John Trump. He was a beloved professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). That part is true, but then you fabricated a tall tale that linked your uncle with the late terrorist Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber. You claimed that your uncle taught Kaczynski at MIT and that he told you Kaczynski was a good, although arrogant student. The truth is that your uncle died in 1985 and Kaczynski was not publicly revealed as the Unabomber until 1996. In addition, there is no record of Kaczynski ever studying at MIT. Your fluid movement from reality into delusion seems to be a psychological/mental liability rather than an asset. I suggest you get help to stop these delusions.

  • Admit your mistakes – We all make mistakes because “to err is human”. Many people have difficulty in accepting responsibility for their actions, but you seem to have a lot of trouble in acknowledging your mistakes. Given the power of the presidency, your mistakes are amplified and can cause great harm to millions of people. For example, you promised to cut waste and fraud from the federal government, but Elon Musk/DOGE used a chainsaw instead of the necessary scalpel. The gutting of USAID, with the resulting stoppage of medicine shipments and the rotting of food at ports around the world, has caused the premature deaths of tens of thousands of women and children. Hundreds of essential federal workers (ex. meteorologists) have been fired which increased the loss of life in the recent floods in Texas. Mr. President, be mature enough to take ownership of your decisions and these tragic results.

Mr. Trump, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t take credit for the positive aspects of the economy and, at the same time, blame Biden or Powell for the negative results. Six months into your presidency, you “own” this economy. If inflation continues to rise, you are responsible.

Your initial evaluation of people (both friends and foes) has been quite flawed. That is why you fired a record number of cabinet members during your first term in office. Your current cabinet has people who are woefully unqualified (like Hegseth and Gabbard). You praised the Russian “president” Putin for being an honorable, strong leader. What a naïve, horrible opinion! You should have listened to Marco Rubio who denounced Putin as a tyrannical authoritarian with the blood of thousands of Ukrainians on his hands. Mr. President, acknowledge your naïve mistake, and use economic sanctions to bring about a just, lasting peace in Ukraine.

Democrats

  1. Learn from your mistakes – It was not so much that Trump won the 2024 presidential election (with under 50% of the vote), but that the Democrats lost it. By and large, Democrats went too far in emphasizing gender issues at the expense of bread-and-butter economic topics. Take for example, the issue of trans women competing in girls/women sports. Many Democrats felt they had to defend the trans women even though they knew they had an unfair advantage in body size, strength and speed over “biological women”. Many voters were persuaded more by “what is fair” than by “what is politically correct”. Democrats need to relearn the wisdom of the old advice, “it’s the economy, stupid”. For the 2026 mid-term elections there are many economic issues that are of vital importance to voters due to the one Big Beautiful Bill: 10 million Americans will lose their health insurance, hundreds of rural medical clinics and hospitals will close, and food will be taken away from mothers and children. This will done in order to transfer funds from the poor and middle classes to the wealthy. Democrats, raise your voice for those who have no voice!
  2. Make unlikely alliances to defend freedom and democracy – As the old adage affirms, politics makes “strange bedfellows”. Marjorie Taylor Greene is not my favorite kind of politician. She is an inconsistent, extremist firebrand who says weird stuff that I do not share. Nevertheless, she does have guts. Recently, she had the courage to denounce Israel’s actions in Gaza for what they truly are: genocide. She uncovered Netanyahu for who he really is: a politician with blood on his hands who has used war to in a failed attempt to bolster his sagging poll numbers among voters in Israel. Democrats, work with MTG to stop starvation in Gaza. Work across the aisle to apply economic sanctions on the murderous Putin. Work with Republican MAGA representatives in order to bring transparency to the Epstein case and to bring justice to those young women who were victimized in his sex trafficking atrocities (and by his friends, regardless of how important they might be).  

We the People

  1. We need to promote the truth, whatever the cost – more than pledging “loyalty” to a political party, or even to a president, we need to be people of the truth who seek the common good. May we rise to the challenge of this high civic calling.