Donald Trump can’t even figure out what he’s lying about anymore
“President” Donald Trump took to Twitter this past weekend to complain about Saturday Night Live. He suggested that SNL should be investigated for “collusion with the Democrats and Russia.” He wondered why SNL mocks him since he has a “52%” approval rating and “93%” approval with Republicans. It’s hard to believe that he has either approval rating, but especially hard to believe that overall he has 52%, so a little investigation is in order.
According to Gallup, Trump’s current approval rating is 39% (March 1-10, 2019). The highest he has ever been in this survey is 45% (January 20-29, 2017 and June 11-17, 2018). Trump has never had a rating at Gallup above 50%. Gallup takes these numbers one step further. They examined the presidencies of Obama, G.W. Bush, Clinton, G.H.W. Bush, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, Kennedy, and Eisenhower. The lowest of all presidents in January of the third year belongs to Reagan at 41%, with the highest being Eisenhower at 69%. Trump can’t even beat Nixon, whose approval rating was 50%. Amazingly, Trump’s Republican support stands at 90%, with his lowest rating from Republicans at 77% (December 11-17, 2017). It’s frankly puzzling that Republicans continue to support this clown in such numbers.
Trump loves to brag and inflate numbers to placate his base. Trump is a failure in the land of the lucid. He attempts to mask his failure with hateful rhetoric, lies, and intimidation. In this instance as reported by MSNBC, he asked via tweet: “Should Federal Election Commission and/or FCC look into this?” Really, Trump? It’s sad that this man doesn’t know the difference between a news outlet and a comedy show. If Trump doesn’t like being mocked, he should stop acting like an idiot. Trump’s tweetfest doesn’t help to prove otherwise; the show on Saturday night was a rerun from Christmas.
As MSNBC pointed out, “entertainment programming mocking newsworthy figures is protected as free speech.” Trump further claims that SNL is “like advertising without consequences” and “a boost to help Democrats.” MSNBC analyzed Trump’s comments and clarified: Trump seems to be referring to the ‘equal time rule’ which mandates that U.S. broadcast TV stations give equal air-time opportunities to opposing political candidates in prime-time if requested. But Trump is president, not a candidate, and SNL is in late-night and, again, parody. There’s also FCC’s ‘fairness doctrine,’ a regulation that required networks to give balanced coverage to matters of public controversy. The FCC eliminated the policy in 1987.” Trump doesn’t even bother to research anything before he speaks, not that it should surprise anyone.
Donald Trump needs to try doing his job, which is apparently all but impossible for him; it’s much easier for him to start conflicts to cover for his failures. He does absolutely nothing for our country but continue to tout numbers that don’t exist, claim accolades that are not his and divide the country. That division is the one thing he does well. He should start claiming that instead.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years