Trumps increasing support

[sprintcyclist]

LEESBURG, Va. — Gina Anders knows the feeling well by now. President Trump says or does something that triggers a spasm of outrage. She doesn’t necessarily agree with how he handled the situation. She gets why people are upset.

But Ms. Anders, 46, a Republican from suburban Loudoun County, Va., with a law degree, a business career, and not a stitch of “Make America Great Again” gear in her wardrobe, is moved to defend him anyway.

“All nuance and all complexity — and these are complex issues — are completely lost,” she said, describing “overblown” reactions from the president’s critics, some of whom equated the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children and parents to history’s greatest atrocities.

“It makes me angry at them, which causes me to want to defend him to them more,” Ms. Anders said.

In interviews across the country over the last few days, dozens of Trump voters, as well as pollsters and strategists, described something like a bonding experience with the president that happens each time Republicans have to answer a now-familiar question: “How can you possibly still support this man?” Their resilience suggests a level of unity among Republicans that could help mitigate Mr. Trump’s low overall approval ratings and aid his party’s chances of keeping control of the House of Representatives in November.

“He’s not a perfect guy; he does some stupid stuff,” said Tony Schrantz, 50, of Lino Lakes, Minn., the owner of a water systems leak detection business. “But when they’re hounding him all the time it just gets old. Give the guy a little.”

Republican voters repeatedly described an instinctive, protective response to the president, and their support has grown in recent months: Mr. Trump’s approval rating among Republicans is now about 90 percent. And while polling has yet to capture the effect of the last week’s immigration controversy, the only modern Republican president more popular with his party than Mr. Trump at this point in his first term, according to Gallup, was George W. Bush after the country united in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.


Mr. Trump has also retained support across a range of demographics other than the working-class voters who are most identified with him. This includes portions of the wealthy college-educated people in swing counties, like Virginia’s Loudoun, in the country’s most politically competitive states.

Many of these voters say their lives and the country are improving under his presidency, and the endless stream of tough cable news coverage and bad headlines about Mr. Trump only galvanizes them further — even though some displayed discomfort on their faces when asked about the child separation policy, and expressed misgivings about the president’s character.

“It bothers me that he doesn’t tell the truth, but I guess I kind of expect that, and I expect that from the media, too — not to always tell the truth or to slant it one way,” said Julie Knight, 63, a retired personal injury case manager from Algona, Wash.

The increasingly tribalized politics on the left and right have helped insulate Mr. Trump from the paroxysms that have jolted his party and eroded longstanding expectations of restraint, humility and honesty in American presidents. This era of tumult has left Democrats energized and determined to win back Congress and act as a check on Mr. Trump, and their intensity has been reflected by strong turnouts in the primaries so far. But still, in just the last year and a half, Mr. Trump has bounced back from crises that at the time seemed as if they might be too severe for him to recover politically.

He tried to unilaterally bar visitors from several Muslim countries from the United States, angering U.S. allies and provoking clashes with Congress and the courts over the limits of executive power. He praised some “very fine people” at a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in remarks that shook some members of his cabinet so deeply that they considered resigning. He defended Roy S. Moore, a Senate candidate in Alabama who was accused of fondling teenage girls, by suggesting that the allegations were old and possibly made-up.

And so as another immigration crisis of his own making smoldered this past week, critics inside and outside Mr. Trump’s party predicted another devastating, irremediable low point in his presidency. Yet many Trump voters said that they no longer had the patience or interest to listen to what they see as another hysterical outburst by Democrats, Republican “Never Trumpers” and the media.

Gina Anders, a Republican from Loudoun County, Va., said that criticism of President Trump makes her want to defend him more.CreditAlex Wroblewski for The New York Times
“It’s kind of like when you experience a sensation over and over and over again,” said Daniel Arnold, 32, a warehouse manager from Leesburg, Va., about an hour outside Washington. “A sensation is no longer a sensation. It’s just, ‘Oh, here we are again.’”

For many Republicans, the audio of children sobbing at a migrant detention center barely registered, because these voters don’t pay attention to the left-leaning and mainstream media that have covered the family separation crisis far more than their preferred channel, Fox News.

“I think it’s terrible about the kids getting split up from their parents. But the parents shouldn’t have been here,” said Lynn Dittbenner, 65, of Elk River, Minn., who took the day off from relaxing with her family at their lake cabin to hear the president speak at a rally in Duluth on Wednesday.

Others said they saw a ploy by the president’s enemies to obscure news that was more favorable to him, like the internal Justice Department investigation that recently uncovered evidence of F.B.I. officials speaking disparagingly of Mr. Trump.

“It’s just incredible what the nation is trying to do to disrupt this president and his agenda,” said Jeff Butts, 58, an unemployed sales manager from Leesburg. “We don’t get to hear about that. We only get to hear about the crying babies on the border.”

Sometimes they seized on made-up or erroneous story lines that were mostly absent from the mainstream media.

“Those cages and those families — that was actually filmed during the Obama administration, not the Trump administration,” said Clayton Smith, 57, a commercial lending underwriter from Cary, Ill., a Chicago suburb.

Mr. Smith was correct about one image. He was referring to a story that was covered widely in the conservative media over the last few weeks about one of President Obama’s former speechwriters who tweeted a picture of immigrant children sleeping in a chain-link pen. “This is happening right now,” the tweet said, despite the fact that the picture was from 2014 when Mr. Obama was president. (He later deleted it and acknowledged the error.)

As isolated as those examples are, they are validating for people who believe their political beliefs are constantly held under a microscope and vilified.

“I don’t have friends anymore because I’ve switched parties,” said Judy Brana, 66, a retired music and art teacher from St. Cloud, Minn., who left home at 10:30 on Wednesday morning to make the two-and-a-half-hour drive up to Duluth for the president’s rally.

“Friends I’ve had for 40 years,” she added. “It’s insane, that’s what I’ll tell you.”

Another factor that seems to be driving up support is a sense that no one is acknowledging Mr. Trump’s successes, which they see as manifold, historic and irrefutable.

“Let’s see,” said John Westling, 70, of Princeton, Minn., reciting a list of the president’s accomplishments that he said no one in the media wants to talk about. “Economy booming, check. Unemployment down, check. Border security being addressed, check. Possible end to the Korean War that started when I was 3 years old, 68 years ago, check.”

“I suspect that if Trump walked across Lake Mille Lacs,” Mr. Westling added, “the media would announce, ‘Trump can’t swim!’”

As measured by the Gallup daily presidential approval tracking poll, Mr. Trump has averaged 87 percent job approval from fellow Republicans in his second year in office, up from 83 percent in his first year. And during the past two weeks, his approval rating hit 90 percent with Republicans.

Yet some say their patience with Mr. Trump’s divisive style is not limitless. Gary Winthorpe, a 17-year-old high school student who was on his way to see the president speak in Minnesota on Wednesday, said he hopes that the first vote he casts for president in 2020 is for Mr. Trump. But he acknowledged being wary at times, aware of protests against the president.

“I’m not blindly for Donald Trump,” he said. “I have a fair bit of skepticism toward him. But I feel like he is trying his best.”

Mr. Trump fared much worse than prior Republican candidates among well-educated and affluent white voters, and became the first Republican to win the presidency while losing white college graduates. But he nonetheless won considerable support among college-educated and affluent voters. He retains much of that support today. According to a Pew Research survey this month, approximately 31 percent of Trump approvers are white men without a college degree, and 66 percent are either college graduates, women or nonwhite.


According to Gallup, Mr. Trump’s popularity with college-educated voters has remained about equal to his popularity with Americans overall this year.

There is some evidence that Mr. Trump’s base of support may have shrunk slightly, though. In recent polls from Gallup and Morning Consult, the numbers of people who identified as Republicans were about 2 percentage points smaller than they were in early 2017.

Among Democrats, Mr. Trump’s initial approval has been historically low, failing to reach 15 percent since he took office. Presidents have traditionally come in with at least a moderate amount of support from the opposing party.


Just as Mr. Trump has changed the makeup of the Republican coalition, he also appears to have helped change the views of the people who support him.

Republicans appear to have developed more forgiving views on morality and public service in recent years, for example. In 2011, one in three Republicans thought an elected official who commits immoral acts in private life could act ethically in public life, according to a Public Religion Research Institute/Brookings survey. By 2016, seven out of 10 did. The trend was especially pronounced among white evangelicals, who strongly supported Mr. Trump and went from being the least likely to the most likely to agree that a candidate’s personal immorality had nothing to do with public service.

The percentage of Republicans who say they have a favorable view of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president for whom Mr. Trump has repeatedly expressed fondness, has doubled from 2015 to 2017 to 24 percent, according to Gallup. Among Democrats, Mr. Putin’s popularity has plummeted.

Even if Mr. Trump wasn’t at the center of the national conversation, Ms. Anders, the Loudoun County business executive, said she thinks that the country would still be polarized. But as long as he is, she said, people on the right and the left will probably continue to dig in based on what Mr. Trump does and how his opponents respond.

“It all coalesces around Trump,” she said. “It’s either, ‘Trump wants to put people in cages, in concentration camps.’ Or, on the other side, ‘Oh the left just wants everybody to come into the country illegally so they can get voters.’”

She concluded: “We can’t have a conversation.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/23/us/p ... trump.html

[sprintcyclist]

500 DAYS: In his first 500 days in office President Donald J. Trump has achieved results domestically and internationally for the American people.
Since taking office, President Trump has strengthened American leadership, security, prosperity, and accountability.
After 500 days, the results are clear: the American economy is stronger, American workers are experiencing more opportunities, confidence is soaring, and business is booming.
President Trump has re-asserted American leadership on the world stage, secured vital investments in our military, and stood up against threats to our national security.
President Trump has put the American people first and made government more accountable.
AMERICA’S ECONOMY IS STRONGER: The American economy is stronger today and American workers are better off thanks to President Trump’s pro-growth agenda.
Nearly 3 million jobs have been created since President Trump took office.
304,000 manufacturing jobs have been created since President Trump took office, and manufacturing employment stands at its highest level since December 2008.
337,000 construction jobs have been created since President Trump took office, and construction employment stands at its highest level since June 2008.
Under President Trump, the unemployment rate has dropped to 3.8, the lowest rate since April 2000, and job openings have reached 6.6 million, the highest level recorded.
67 percent of Americans believe now is a good time to find a quality job, according to Gallup.
Only under President Trump have more than 50 percent of Americans believed it is a good time to find a quality job since Gallup began asking the question 17 years ago.
President Trump prioritized job training and workforce development to empower workers to seize more opportunities, signing an Executive Order to expand apprenticeship opportunities.
President Trump has restored confidence in the American economy, with confidence among both consumers and businesses reaching historic highs.
Consumer confidence in current conditions has reached a 17-year high, according to the Conference Board.
Optimism among manufacturers has hit record highs under President Trump, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.
Small business optimism has sustained record-high levels under President Trump according to the National Federation of Independent Business.
President Trump signed the historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law, cutting taxes for American families and making American business more competitive.
American families received $3.2 trillion in gross tax cuts and saw the child tax credit double.
The top corporate tax rate was lowered from 35 percent to 21 percent so American businesses could be more competitive.
President Trump has rolled back unnecessary job-killing regulations beyond expectations.
In 2017, President Trump far exceeded his promise to eliminate regulations at a two-to-one ratio, issuing 22 deregulatory actions for every new regulatory action.
The Administration rolled back rules and regulations harming farmers and energy producers, such as the Waters of the United States Rule and the Clean Power Plan.
Regional and community banks and credit unions got relief after President Trump signed legislation reducing harmful requirements imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act.
Since taking office, President Trump has advanced free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals that protect American workers, ending decades of destructive trade policies.
Days after taking office, the President withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations and agreement.
President Trump’s Administration is working to defend American intellectual property from China’s unfair practices through a range of actions.
The President improved the KORUS trade agreement with the Republic of Korea, which will allow more U.S. automobile exports to South Korea with lower tariffs and increase U.S. pharmaceutical access to South Korea.
American agriculture has gained access to new markets under President Trump.

AMERICA IS WINNING ON THE WORLD STAGE: President Trump has re-asserted American leadership on the world stage and is achieving results for the American people.
President Trump followed through on his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
President Trump ordered an end to United States participation in the horrible Iran deal and immediately began the process of re-imposing sanctions that had been lifted or waived.
The President has taken action to confront aggression by Iran and its proxies.
The Department of the Treasury has issued a range of sanctions targeting Iranian activities and entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force.
Under President Trump, the United States has led an unprecedented global campaign to achieve the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
President Trump’s leadership has contributed to the return of 17 Americans held overseas.
In May 2018 alone, Venezuela released one American and North Korea released three Americans who came home to the United States.
The President has secured historic increases in defense funding in order to rebuild our Nation’s military with the resources they need, after years of harmful sequester.
President Trump signed legislation to provide $700 billion in defense spending for fiscal year (FY) 2018 and $716 billion for FY 2019.
The United States has worked with international allies to decimate ISIS.
President Trump ordered strikes against Syria in response to the regime’s use of chemical weapons in April 2017 and April 2018.
The Trump Administration has imposed a range of sanctions on the Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela, including sanctions targeting Maduro and other senior government officials.
AMERICA’S COMMUNITIES ARE SAFER AND MORE SECURE: President Trump has worked to secure our borders, enforce our immigration laws, and protect the safety and security of American communities.
Despite limited resources and obstruction from Congress, President Trump has worked to take control of our border and enforce our immigration laws.
President Trump has called on Congress to provide the resources needed to secure our borders and close loopholes that prevent immigration laws from being fully enforced.
President Trump authorized the deployment of the National Guard to help secure our borders.
President Trump’s Administration has carried out immigration enforcement efforts based on the rule of law.
From the start of President Trump’s Administration to the end of FY 2017, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) made 110,568 arrests of illegal aliens.
Arrests made in this timeframe represented a 42 percent increase from the same timeframe in FY 2016.
Of the 110,568 arrests made, 92 percent had a criminal conviction, pending criminal charge, were an ICE fugitive, or had a reinstated final order of removal.
President Trump has made clear that his Administration will continue to combat the threat of MS-13 in order to protect communities from the horrendous violence the gang has spread.
In 2017, the Department of Justice worked with partners in Central America to file criminal charges against more than 4,000 members of MS-13.
The Trump Administration has cracked down on the import and distribution of illegal drugs in order to stop them from reaching our communities and causing even more devastation.
As of April 2018, U.S. Border Patrol has seized 284 pounds of fentanyl in FY 2018, already surpassing the total of 181 pounds seized in FY 2017.
The President has launched a nationwide effort to fight the opioid crisis, which has devastated communities across America.
The President’s Opioid Initiative seeks to reduce drug demand, cut off the flow of illicit drugs, and save lives by expanding treatment opportunities.
President Trump signed an omnibus spending bill which provides nearly $4 billion to address the opioid epidemic.
The bill included $1 billion for grants focused on the hardest hit States and Tribes and provided funding for a public-private research partnership on pain and addiction.
AMERICA’S GOVERNMENT IS MORE ACCOUNTABLE: Since taking office, President Trump has worked to ensure government is more accountable to the American people.
President Trump has confirmed the most circuit court judges of any President in their first year, and secured Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the United States Supreme Court.
President Trump has signed legislation to bring more accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs and provide our veterans with more choice in the care they receive.
President Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017, improving processes for addressing misconduct.
President Trump signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act into law, authorizing $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program.
President Trump successfully eliminated the penalty for Obamacare’s burdensome individual mandate.
The President’s Administration is seeking to provide more affordable health coverage and broader access to affordable alternatives to Obamacare plans.
President Trump has released a blueprint to lower drug prices for Americans.
President Trump has ensured that the religious liberties and conscience of Americans are protected and respected by the Federal government.
President Trump signed an Executive Order to protect the free speech and religious liberties of groups such as the Little Sisters of the Poor.
The Department of Justice issued guidance to all executive agencies on protecting religious liberty in federal programs.
Washington Secrets


https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wash ... -greatness

[sprintcyclist]

............ President-elect Jair Bolsonaro has reiterated that he plans to move Brazil’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, joining the United States and Guatemala.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, quickly welcomed the plan.

In a tweet Thursday, Bolsonaro said: “As previously stated during our campaign, we intend to transfer the Brazilian Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel is a sovereign state and we shall duly respect that.”

It was the first time since being elected Sunday that Bolsonaro referred to his plan to move the embassy.

In Israel, Netanyahu issued a statement praising Bolsonaro. “I congratulate my friend Brazilian President-Elect, Jair Bolsonaro, for his intention to move the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem, a historic, correct and exciting step!”

Netanyahu spoke to Bolsonaro earlier this week, congratulating him on his victory and inviting him to visit Israel. ..................

[Valkie]

We need a Trump in Australia.

[Black Orchid]

Yes we do but seeing that disingenuous idiot Clive Palmer on tv all the time lately saying "Make Australia great again" makes me almost want to throw up.

He shouldn't be allowed to spend money on tv flaunting himself until he has paid his workers.

Do the right thing Palmer! Nahhh it will never happen.

[FLEKTARN]

We need a Trump in Australia.

I don't think you need a fat globalist in AUS. I'd say Orban is the better choice. He's at least not only balloon talk.

[FLEKTARN]

Over the course of the last seven years, the Orbán Government have turned a struggling Hungary around, diminishing unemployment to record lows, stabilizing the economy, slashing debt, supporting families, and protecting the EU borders. All of that contributes to Hungary’s greater stature in the region.

Orbán also openly lays his vision of a new world order, where the Islamization of Europe is a real threat. That 60 million will depart from Africa towards Europe during the next 20 years, increasing the Islamic population above 20 percent in Western Europe by 2030. “The Islamization of Europe is real. Unlike in China or the United States, where it doesn’t stand a chance”, Orbán has said.

Also a university founded by the "philanthropist" George Soros has announced it has been forced out of Hungary by the government of Viktor Orbán.

Orbán is not a fool who only talks. He's actually putting his own life on the line.

[BigP]

Hes got my vote,

[FLEKTARN]

Hes got my vote,

Then Hungary greets you, comrade.

[sprintcyclist]

Over the course of the last seven years, the Orbán Government have turned a struggling Hungary around, diminishing unemployment to record lows, stabilizing the economy, slashing debt, supporting families, and protecting the EU borders. All of that contributes to Hungary’s greater stature in the region.

Orbán also openly lays his vision of a new world order, where the Islamization of Europe is a real threat. That 60 million will depart from Africa towards Europe during the next 20 years, increasing the Islamic population above 20 percent in Western Europe by 2030. “The Islamization of Europe is real. Unlike in China or the United States, where it doesn’t stand a chance”, Orbán has said.

Also a university founded by the "philanthropist" George Soros has announced it has been forced out of Hungary by the government of Viktor Orbán.

Orbán is not a fool who only talks. He's actually putting his own life on the line.

' .......... increasing the Islamic population above 20 percent in Western Europe by 2030 ..... '

That would be the end of Europe.
Historically if the muslim population gets to 10% there are real problems for the society