Canadian writer, Ian Boothby recently put his spin on what we'll call, the Trump problem. Boothby contends that while Donald Trump may currently reside in the White House (at least part time) he really isn't running the country as a President, but rather a celebrity. His theory is that Trump considers his second term, like his first nothing more than reality television--a sort of surrealist update of, "The Apprentice."
If Boothby is right, Donald Trump is seeing the ratings for his new foray into script free TV begin to slip. The online site, ListWire posted state by state results of the President's, or rather the host's approval ratings. Some of the results were to be expected. Trump's act plays well in the deep south, where most of the time his approval is in the low to mid 60% range. (The exception being Florida, where it is at 53%.) Predictably he is so far under water on the west coast and in the northeast his ship can be officially declared sunk. The same can be said in Maryland and Virginia, where a lot of recently unemployed federal workers live. In Virginia the approval rating is at 42%, in Maryland ,it's an abysmal 30%.
Out west El Don's approval rating in Nevada is 47% and in Arizona it is at 50%. Due south of where I sit, in Texas he is also at 50%. Up in Ohio, where the Haitian immigrants are feasting on dogs and cats, he is at 50% for a third time. In 2024, just a few months ago, he carried all four of those states, two of them easily.
Then there was more bad news for the Leader. In Pennsylvania only 46% of those polled approve of Donald Trump's job performance. In Michigan it is 47% and in Wisconsin 45%. In Georgia it is 46%. For those with short term memory loss when Donald Trump won those four states, he won the election.
Perhaps Donald Trump was aware of these numbers when he was interviewed yesterday by Kristen Walker on NBC. It might be why he told her he would only be an "eight year President." It was a statement which seemed to put some people at ease. Personally though, I don't believe him--hey, he has been known to lie at times, like whenever he speaks. I still maintain the only way that son of a bitch will leave the Oval Office is to be carried out, either in cuffs, or a box.
Or maybe this is all like Ian Boothby says--nothing more than bizarre performance art. After all, what else are you supposed to think when the President of the United States instructs his staff to publish a photo of him dressed as the pope, before the College of Cardinals elects a new one. Or when Kristen Walker asks him if he believes he should uphold the Constitution of the United States and Donald Trump replies, "I don't know."
Is he just trying to provoke his opposition--troll us like some arrogant little teenaged hacker? Is he on acid? Or has the twisted fuck simply gone completely around the bend?
Boothby feels the only way to successfully take on Donald Trump isn't to attack his presidency. He believes you have to go after his sense of celebrity. Savage not his policies--hell, he doesn't even know what they will be from one day to the next anyway--but his image.
Easier said than done. How do you bring down an image when currently that image is one of utter and obscene madness?
It is doubtful Donald Trump believes those poll numbers. He might not even care about them. All he knows, is he is in charge and by God, he is going to do whatever he wants. And, in his mind at least, there is no one in the world who can stop him.
5-5-25
Like I said in your last blog, this cannot continue indefinitely. That does not mean it will end as we wish. I honestly feel that effective resistance has to come from the GOP. We will learn a lot about our conservative friends very soon.
ReplyDelete