How Public Opinion Will Shape the Rest of Trump’s Presidency
For a guy that desperately wants people to like him and be popular, President Trump is certainly disliked and unpopular. No matter what the White House spokespeople say, polls are meaningful and public opinion matters. Every week there’s a new story that shows Trump going against presidential protocol, acting like the Commander-in-prick, or just tweeting like a teenage girl.
Oh Twitter… It’s easy to see that the President’s excessive use of the overly popular social media platform is a problem. It was predicted before he took office and it’s been proven over his first six months. Whatever Trump thinks Trump tweets. Whether it’s intimidating witnesses, like with James Comey’s testimony before the Senate, or trying to vindicate his family or associates, like this week over the Donald Trump Jr.-Russia meeting, Trump takes to Twitter to let you know exactly what’s on his mind.
Trump uses Twitter because his statements can’t be censored by the “fake media.” However, the President’s tweeting has been counterproductive in making him look better than his media portrayal. When faced with criticism from talk show hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski from Morning Joe, @realDonaldTrump had some (poor) choice words [1]. The President insulted both hosts and, of course, had to bring up Mika’s looks.
Tweet storms like these are a standard morning routine for Trump and America takes notice. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll reveals 67% of those polled disapprove of the President’s tweeting [2]. Over 50% even called it DANGEROUS! Which it is already, but can get even worse. We all knew what we were getting when we saw Trump’s tiny hands take the oath in January, but this is just insane.
The most recent approval ratings for President Trump are slipping even further. He’s breaking records like Roger Federer (like you can stop now, you have them all). Trump’s approval rating hit the lowest of any president since the 70’s. Only 36% of Americans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing [3]. 36%! At this point of their first terms, Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush had ratings of 59%. So does this mean that Trump is still more than half as good as Obama? That’s generous, trust me.
Like I said, public opinion matters and it goes a long way. If opinion slips far enough, Congress won’t have the option to back the President anymore. If the people that vote for Congress aren’t happy, then they will change to get their votes. Trump will be the first to realize this. As we speak, the first attempt to file Articles of Impeachment are underway [4]. Several Representatives have issued the articles and warn of issuing more. The documents cite obstruction of justice for the President’s handling of the Russia investigation and FBI director James Comey.
Step two complete (step one being let Trump ruin himself). This part was inevitable, we all knew it was going to happen. At this stage though, the House certainly won’t pass the measures to impeach the President. The Republican-controlled Congress is still backing Trump, for now. But one more time, public opinion matters and can change everything.
Written By: CJ Wilcox (@CJWilcox7)
1: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/29/business/media/trump-mika-brzezinski-facelift.html
2: http://time.com/4860529/donald-trump-tweets-poll-approval/
3: http://time.com/4860080/donald-trump-approval-ratings-poll-twitter-response/
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