The Great Divide

"A house divided against itself cannot stand....." - Abraham Lincoln, June 16, 1858

 Illustration credit: xkcd, (C) 2016 by Randall Munroe

It's twilight in America. 

Since the beginning of President Donald J. Trump's Administration on January 20, the mood of the nation is ugly. The President's ultra-conservative base, perhaps unaware of the irony, seems to be perplexed by the dismally low approval ratings of Mr. Trump in his first two weeks as our Chief Executive.

I say, with no small amount of sadness, that it's ironic that the true believers of Make America Great Again simply don't understand how hypocritical their "Give him a chance" pleas sound to those of us who don't like Mr. Trump or his policies. Have they not forgotten that the Republican Party proudly proclaimed itself the "Party of No" when Barack Obama became President eight years ago?  Have they such a selective memory that they don't recall Rush Limbaugh's "I hope he fails" diatribe during Obama's first week, or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's promise to make Obama a one-term President?


According to the latest Gallup Poll data, the average President approval ratings are at 43%. These are the lowest such ratings for a new Administration. Historically, incoming Presidencies enjoy a "honeymoon" with the public, even after a heavily disputed election. For comparison, when George W. Bush took office in January of 2001, he wasn't exactly Mr. Popular, but his approval ratings at the start of his term were well over the 60% mark.

While Mr. Trump's supporters insist that their chosen leader is going to "make America great again," the President's actions and words over the past two weeks seem to indicate that he'll do the opposite.

Why do I think that Mr. Trump's Presidency is going to be a total disaster?

• His choice for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, is a wealthy donor to Republican causes, including the transfer of federal funds to private schools via vouchers. She doesn't have a degree in education, has never attended public schools (or sent her children to public schools), has never applied for a college loan, and has been a vocal supporter of charter schools. She has even called public schools "a dead end."  (From what I understand, DeVos was confirmed so that her Congressional masters can close the Department of Education by 2018.)

• Issued Executive Order 13767, which "orders" the building of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.  Right now that EO is toothless because Congress has not appropriated funds for the wall's construction. Nevertheless, Mr. Trump's insistence that the wall is needed, that it will be built, and that Mexico will pay for it has caused a rift in U.S.-Mexico relations. Mexican President Enrique Pena-Nieto canceled a high-level meeting that had been scheduled for last week. In addition, Mr. Trump's aggressive comments about sending U.S. troops to Mexico to fight "bad hombres" have been less-than-helpful. Anti-U.S, sentiment is bound to rise in Mexico, and a left-wing candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, might ride that rising tide of anti-Americanism all the way to the presidency in this year's elections.
• His Administration treats the press as, in the words of Mr. Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, "the opposition party." Bannon, who used to run the divisive nationalist "news" site Breitbart News, seeks to drive a wedge between the press and a polarized public in order to push forward a hyper-nationalist agenda. This includes increasing the size of an allegedly "depleted" military, increasing tensions between the U.S. and China, and "re-evaluating" the need for formal alliances such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

• To sow distrust between the American people and the "mainstream media," the Trump Administration has lied about non-existent events (the "Bowling Green Massacre"), the rising crime rate in the nation ("The murder rate in our country is the highest it’s been in 47 years," Mr. Trump said at a recent meeting with American sheriffs at the White House. Per PolitiFact, a fact-checking organization that keeps track of such things: "The national homicide rate is considerably lower than its peak in the 1990s,") and that Iran had attacked a U.S. naval vessel off the Arabian peninsula. 

Sources: http://www.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx

http://www.gallup.com/poll/116500/presidential-approval-ratings-george-bush.aspx

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/feb/08/donald-trump/donald-trump-wrong-murder-rate-highest-47-years/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/oct/30/barack-obama/president-barack-obama-claims-mitch-mcconnell-says/