Trump’s Moment of Truth
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | January 17, 2019
“This is now the moment of truth for Trump: will he screw up his courage to tell Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh to ‘get lost’ or will he give up his opportunity to speak to the nation from the House on January 29?”
The partial government shutdown is now in its record 27th day.
This is beyond irresponsible.
The person responsible, President Trump, told the world that he would be “proud to shut down the government for border security.” Trump then changed his mind about shutting down the government, and then he had his mind changed for him again.
This calls to mind the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. In this case, the Cowardly Lion folded on ending the shutdown after two right-wing ideologues challenged him in the media – Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.
This shutdown has turned out to be one of the biggest political mistakes of the Trump Presidency. The latest polls and his own comments show that he is paying a very big price for it.
Trump reportedly told his chief of staff, “We are getting crushed” over the shutdown.
According to Bloomberg News, “[S]ix surveys taken since the partial government closure began last month tell a consistent story – half or more Americans believe Trump and his party are responsible for the shutdown, while one-third or fewer point the finger at Democrats.”
A series of recent polls have the President at very low average approval ratings of 38 percent.
And perhaps Trump’s most dangerous poll result came from a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released today. The poll found that “57 percent of registered voters said that they would definitely not support Trump in 2020, and would instead ‘vote against’ the president by supporting one of his announced opponents.”
House Speaker Pelosi, however, may have delivered the coup de grace to the shutdown when she withdrew Trump’s invitation to give his State of the Union address in the House on January 29.
This is now the moment of truth for Trump: will he screw up his courage to tell Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh to “get lost” or will he give up his opportunity to speak to the nation from the House on January 29?
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Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections. See previous Notes from Fred here.
