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Home Front: Politix

How Trump Won 2019

2019-12-22

[FREEBEACON] President Trump ends 2019 in a better position than when he started. The year began with the swearing in of Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi
Nancy <q>San Fran Nan</q> Pelosi

Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of professional politicians. On-again-off-again Speaker of the House. It's not her fault when they lose, but it's her accomplishment when they win. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace and occasional senior... uhhh... moments...
as speaker of the House. The Mueller probe dragged on. The legislative agenda of Trump's first two years in office had petered out. The Democratic frontrunner, Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
...Failed seeker of the Democratic presidential nomination on multiple occasions, vice president under Barack Obama, giving it a last try in his dotage for 2020...
, was beating him by double digits in the polls. A little more than halfway through the year, bond prices signaled recession.

Look where things stand now. Pelosi's decision to impeach Trump already has cost her a seat and stands zero chance of resulting in a Senate conviction. Not only has Mueller shuffled off the stage, but Michael Horowitz's report on FBI malfeasance also raises serious doubts about the credibility of the government and media elites who spent years arguing that Trump and his associates were Russian agents. Mitch McConnell blocks liberal bills from the House while confirming additional conservative judges. Biden is damaged and the problems of his candidacy manifest as he sleepwalks toward his party's nomination. The economy is gangbusters.

Nothing the Democratic majority has done has hurt Trump's approval rating. At this time last year, he stood at 42 percent approval and 52 percent disapproval in the RealClearPolitics average of polls. As I write, the RCP average of Trump's approval rating is 45 percent and disapproval is 52 percent. Trump's numbers are remarkably stable and closely track President Obama's at this point in his presidency. Biden began the year with big leads over Trump. Since then his margin has dwindled to 4 percent. And that's before Trump drops $1 billion in negative social media on him (or whoever the nominee is) next year.

Of course, Trump cannot say that he has been consistently popular. The opposite is true. And a 4-point victory for Biden still would be a victory‐though not necessarily under the rules of the Electoral College. What Trump can say is that efforts to remove him from office have failed, or are about to fail, and have not prevented him from delivering the disruptive change that his supporters desire. Trump's destiny is not to be a broadly popular president, if that is even possible anymore. He has been a consequential president. And may well be a reelected one.

Trump's opponents have contributed to his success ever since he became the focal point of our national life in 2015. He fashioned himself into a political bulldozer and rolled over decades-old dynasties, demolished Republican shibboleths, ground into dust codes of presidential behavior, and plowed through entrenched obstacles to conservative policymaking in the bureaucracy and courts. Throughout it all, he has benefited from the contrast between his policies and results on one hand and the possibility of the "bold, structural change" desired by woke Democrats on the other. He also has made the most of his adversaries' weaknesses: not just the character traits he turns into nicknames but the zealotry that manifests itself in overreach and radicalism.

Posted by:Fred

#2 ...since when have they been concerned about the consequences of anything else they do? Minimum wage unemployment, Obamacare (you can keep your plan), open borders, education, etc etc etc.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2019-12-22 07:54

#1 Mitch McConnell blocks liberal bills from the House while confirming additional conservative judges. Biden is damaged and the problems of his candidacy manifest as he sleepwalks toward his party's nomination. The economy is gangbusters.

So wrong. The Dems got to throw an awesome Peachment Party. A Forever Peachment Party. Not impeachy impeachment, but still.

Do you even know how many retweets Ratshita got for her giddy "I'm-off-to-impeach -the-mother***ker" Twitter clip?

Elections? Who cares about elections?

Posted by: Lex 2019-12-22 07:03

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