The Thread of The Donald

There is plenty of time to change, but the +/- approval rating of the President this deep into an administration is pretty good at indicating where a President's re-election chances stand. A re-election campaign for a President has historically been a mandate on how well the sitting office holder has done in the eyes of the public.

Right now the numbers show that Donald Trump is at a -15.

That is to say that 56% of Americans do not approve of his performance as President and 41% approve.

Out of the modern polling era......... the Presidents that have a negative polling +/1 at this point in their Presidency are G.W. Bush, Carter and Truman.

Truman was at this point only about a +/- of 5-7 points depending on the source. Carter and Bush were both way under water at a -17 and -21...... Trump is at a -15 right now.

At this point Trump is clearly on the path of being a one term President unless something drastically changes, which would be an event that has not been replicated since at least modern polling began 75 years ago.

There is a glimmer of hope for Trump. History has largely forgotten it but Ronald Reagan was less popular that Donald Trump is right now after two years in office. It took Reagan about a year (his third year in office) to really solidify his popularity with the American people.

Trump is unique in that he is the only President that has never managed to get his approval rating above 50%. His high was 49% when he was sworn into office. Since then his approval rating has hovered between 41-46%..... the closest comparison to Trump in that regard is Gerald Ford.

 

Why are you being so obtuse? Tesla is building ITS (i.e. Tesla's) largest plant. It is not building THE largest plant.

 

I'm not. Glad Tesla is bringing jobs to Texas. Why wouldn't the President simply say that Tesla is building THEIR largest plant in Texas and not in some other country?

Why won't you admit his tweet is factually incorrect?

 

Did you see her interview and the stipulations involved?

First she never asked them to come and she isn't welcoming them.

The President told her they were coming regardless so they reached an agreement on what they will and will not do there.

Further the Governor of Illinois is attempting to kept them out or further restricted.

As someone that lived in the areas that President Trump is suddenly so concerned about, I find it interesting that he believes that sending in a federal police force will make any difference.... because it will not.

The issue isn't having enough officers, Chicago has plenty of officers.

I have been extremely critical of the democrats running Chicago. While I agree with them on some issues, I do not think it is good for any single party to dominate a town for 100 years. Having said that, this is nothing more than politics for the President. He has used black violence and perceived lawlessness to fire up his followers....... the overwhelming majority of whom have zero understanding of the history of Chicago or what the current state of the city is, especially in the inner city.

I helped put many, many gang members in prison for a long time. Over 90% of the people I put in prison in the district where Chicago is located were black. Many of them are still in prison. Having said that, in hind sight many of those in prison should not be in prison for their offenses. Virtually all of them can be traced back to drugs and poverty. I know the areas well. I lived there and still go visit often. Sending in a police force is just profoundly stupid; but par for the course for old white men that have zero understanding for what is going on in the communities.

 

The tweet implies politics ... the difference is how the additional agents are being used. Cities and civilian do not want federal agents as a patrol against civil unrest, Portland-style, and for it to stand on legal ground.

Trump calls Lightfoot to discuss sending more than 200 federal agents to Chicago: To help local cops, not patrol Portland-style

“This is not patrol. This is not against civil unrest,” U.S. Attorney John Lausch said. “This is working with the Chicago Police Department to do what we can to reduce the staggering violent crime we’re facing right now.”

 

Let's examine what the President tweeted:

"Great job by @elonmusk in agreeing to build, in TEXAS, what is expected to be the largest auto plant anywhere in the world."

Through the word "TEXAS", there is absolutely nothing I disagree with. It is this part that is factually inaccurate:

"what is expected to be THE largest auto plant ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD" (emphasis mine).

Note that he doesn't say Tesla or "their", he says THE. There are plenty of auto plants in the world currently bigger than the one Tesla plans to open in Texas.

Why are you stuck on Tesla plants? In no way am I arguing that it won't be the biggest Tesla plant in the world. Again, that is not what TRUMP said. Why won't you recognize that?

 

I think federal police presence will escalate tensions.

And I think it's so obvious that it will escalate tensions that I'm beginning to think this is Trump's Reichstag Fire moment.

This is asking for a single spark to devolve into armed shootouts between men who look like they belong in a helo raid in Afghanistan and American citizens in the middle of American streets.

If that starts happening, America as we know it is over. Signifcant changes one way or the other is going to happen if that spark occurs.

All it takes a is a couple of people who believe that this abuse of power merits taking up arms and shooting at these federal secret police.

 

It has been expected that Musk would find a friendlier state for his factory. He compliant about the lock-down in California over Covid19. His company has battled local union members in CA over wages and services for entry-level factory workers. He has openly asked for tax incentives (it would be good to know what incentive Austin gave Tesla).

Those are likely the factors that drove Tesla decision (and not "his words" to trump).

 

I said it in another thread but Texas is like that landlord who renovates only the exterior aesthetics of the property and vacant units in order to attract new customers while ignoring the current tenants and their service requests.


Hence why Texas is dead last in percentage of residents with health insurance and dead last in percentage of residents over 25 with at least a high school degree.

Texas loves attracting new business investments while ignoring the needs of their current residents.

 

Yes escalate. Just because things are bad now that doesn't mean things can't get worse.

Sending in federal boots from a man who these communties DESPISE where there is rampant access to firearms in some of these neighborhoods, you are asking for a single spark that will devolve into shootouts between feds and American citizens in mainland America. That is what Trump is risking by doing his political stunt.

Name me a protest/riot on the planet that was suppressed by authoritarian pushback? Human history says the pushback to that type of method will be significantly worse. You think Hong Kong protestors quit after their law enforcement started using more aggressive tactics? No, the protestors responded by being more aggressive. That's how humans operate. You think we lessened the amount of Islamic extremists by invading and enforcing our will towards them? Nope, we just created more extremists as there are more Islamic extremists today than before the war on terror began.

This is basic human psychology. This has repeated itself over and over with similar consequences. Trump is only going to make these areas more violent.

 

Texas does do a good job of attracting new business and a poor job of providing needs for many residents. If they can help residents more while attracting business, they would do great. They can do it with the right leadership IMO.

 

Apparently it escalates into an authoritarian move against the United States. One that is not only illegal but also ineffective.

It's had horrible results in Portland and has not restored order but escalated unrest.

Our nation was so much more at peace with itself before Trump came to power.

 

The highest murder rate peak in Chicago over the past two decades was 35 murders per 100,000 residents. As someone who's been to Helmand Province, Chicago is no where near Afghanistan and when I actually was in Afghanistan in the middle of a actual war zone where violent insurgents were literally trying to hunt me, I still had a ****ing Velcro patch on the middle of my ****ing plate carrier that had my first and last name, last four of my social, unit 2/6(2nd battalion, 6th Marines) and blood type and when we detained locals, we had interpreters explain to them why they are being detained.

We treated Afgan locals with more dignity than these jackboots towards domestic civilians.