Sorry, Donald Trump, they’re just not that into you

| 4:00 pm EDT June 12, 2020
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Sorry, “president” Trump, but we’re just not that into you. Citing the recent CNN poll that shows Vice President Joe Biden leading Trump by 14 points, Trump’s campaign sent a “cease and desist” letter to CNN President Jeff Zucker, where it was promptly ignored. Since Trump calls CNN “fake news,” why not just call this poll fake? Because Trump knows neither is fake.

Trump’s campaign team failed to mention Trump’s pathetic approval rating in this poll, 38%, which the Brookings Institution mirrors. Brookings believes that Trump’s reelection prospects “look bleak” based on its research. Looking at political history, Brookings found that “an incumbent’s job approval has been the single best measure of his reelection prospects.” Every incumbent president with a 50% or better rating won reelection. History further discusses two incumbents with approval ratings below 40%, and they lost — badly: Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush. For the most part, according to Brookings, these numbers are valuable in that each incumbent secured 1% higher than their final approval rating. Trump’s reelection does appear very unlikely unless he does something earth-shattering in the coming months, which we can count on him to do, though it may not have the result he desires. His latest stunt is already causing him problems.

CNN (and other outlets) announced that Trump is ready to resume campaign rallies, and his first choice could not be worse. He will be visiting Tulsa, OK — a city with a history of a race-based massacre — on June 19. Perhaps he does not understand the significance of “Juneteenth,” the date when Texas slaves were freed — two years after other southern states. Maybe Trump has not heard about the massacre that took place in Tulsa. Neither is the case. Trump is setting up a means of shoring up his racist followers. Congressman Al Green tweeted that Trump’s choice of Tulsa on Juneteeth is “more than a slap in the face to African Americans; it is overt racism from the highest office in the land.” This is not much of a surprise from this “president.”

According to the Washington Post, historians are appalled at Trump’s choice and call it “blasphemous.” As the WaPo article states, “Black people waited impatiently for the moment of that freedom.” It is quite interesting how history continues to repeat itself, as we now anxiously await freedom from Trump. Trump sent out his latest clueless press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, to tell the press that Juneteenth is “a meaningful day for him.” That means it is the perfect day to rile up his racist followers. Perhaps he is hoping for a repeat of the 1921 Tulsa massacre, but this is not 1921. He can forget the Black vote, not to mention making Brookings’ prediction reality. Just to pour salt into Trump’s gaping wound, Brookings revealed that President Obama’s job approval rating looked bleak prior to the 2012 election at 46%; however, the day before the election, Obama’s rating shot up to 52%. That will not be happening for Trump by any stretch of the imagination.