Now Donald Trump has a whole other problem
This week, we’re seeing a rapid plummet of Donald Trump’s numbers, as he goes into the second half of an election year with historically ugly disapproval ratings. He’s facing two major crises that he can’t possibly solve, and just about every effort he’s made so far has only made them even worse.
Last week alone, he forced a swab factory to destroy its supplies just because he refuses to be seen in public with a face mask, and picked a fight with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell over the right of football players to protest. Regardless of what happens, he’s doubling down on the ignorance and bigotry that brought out his base in 2016, even though fewer and fewer people in positions of influence agree with him on these things, and the average voter identifies with the protestors and not Donald Trump.
Now there’s another number that’s not looking so great for Trump and could hurt any Republican who chooses to parrot his xenophobic views on immigration. According to a new CBS News poll, the overwhelming majority of Americans support allowing DACA recipients to stay in the country – including 84% of independents and even 73% of Republicans. This is just one poll, but the program’s recipients have been steadily gaining support over the last two years, following Donald Trump’s ill-advised decision to end the program early in his presidency.
That decision served two goals – to spite President Obama and to throw red meat to his base. Now, the US Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on whether or not Donald Trump is allowed to legally end the program. However the ruling turns out, it’s going to be a disaster for Trump. If the administration loses, you can expect his approval rating to drop even further as they’ll be forced to admit that they were unable to not only fulfill a major campaign promise, but admit that Trump isn’t the strongman he pretends to be. If they win, however, you can expect a rallying of support behind the dreamers and a great deal of backlash against the GOP at the ballot box in November. If people have a lack of confidence in Trump’s leadership now, it’s likely to get much worse.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making