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April 19th, 2024

Insight

'Freefall' doesn't necessarily have to end in a crash, Mr. President

Deroy Murdock

By Deroy Murdock

Published July 10, 2020

President Donald J. Trump likely finds the latest Gallup poll neither very special nor particularly beautiful. If it's incredible, that's because it's incredibly alarming.

"In early May, Trump's approval tied his personal best at 49 percent — before it sank amid nationwide protests over racial injustice after the death of George Floyd," Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones wrote about this survey of adults, released Monday. "Now his approval rating stands just three percentage points above his personal low of 35 percent registered on four separate occasions in 2017."

Even more ominously, the last two presidents with approval below 40 percent this close to Election Day were George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter. And look what happened to them.

Given these grim numbers, and with just nine weeks before early voters pull the first levers, President Trump at once needs to focus like a bloodhound on winning a second term. The alternative is unthinkable — an addled Joe Biden weakly assenting to Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, and their every unhinged, extreme, vindictive, far-Left fantasy.

The president needs to stop wasting precious time with Twitter messages about seemingly every petty controversy that arises. He already has a massive problem getting his important messages out, thanks to the Hate Trump Media, which constantly gnaw at him, like termites nibbling through the floorboards.

Creating his own distractions makes it that much harder for Trump to get re-elected, an objective that has grown from an urgent priority to an existential imperative for the survival of America as we have known it.

The president recently wondered on Twitter if NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace would apologize over a two-week-old incident involving a noose-like garage-door closer discovered at Alabama's Talladega Superspeedway.

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The President of the United States has far bigger cars to race, especially a fortnight after this flap ended with warm shows of support for Wallace, NASCAR's sole black racer.

On Saturday, President Trump travels to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a campaign rally. Energizing his base is vital. But with 91 percent of Republicans already supporting Trump, per Gallup, he cannot rise much above his near-deity status.

Trump needs to expand his base, pronto.

For every rally, he should do at least three events with independents, suburban women, and black voters.

Trump should explain to black parents that he strongly backs school choice, while Biden sadistically promises to padlock charter schools.

Trump should visit minority-owned companies that have grown through his Opportunity Zone program.

He should introduce Americans to black former prisoners who have benefited from his First Step Act/criminal-justice reform and made something of themselves.

Trump repeatedly should visit Historically Black Colleges and Universities and explain how his robust support for those institutions boosts the educational and professional prospects for the black students who populate these campuses.

Conveniently enough, asking for black votes calms whites rattled by relentless, filthy media and Democrat lies about Trump's alleged racism. Trump's white support has fallen from 57 percent in May to 48 percent in June. Appealing to blacks also will boost Trump's approval numbers among whites.

The president should offer a positive, optimistic vision of how his ideas will reverse COVID-19's damage and make America great again, again. Trumponomics triumphed. Tax cuts, deregulation, energy independence, and other pro-market reforms can work their magic once more.


Finally, Trump must remember that he is not running against athletes, comedians, and pundits. He is running against an increasingly befogged Joe Biden, first elected 48 years ago. So, atop his own positive message, Trump must highlight Biden's weaknesses, his shabby Senate record, the Obama-Biden Administration's abundant failures, and the bonkers AOC/BLM/Antifa Left that will control Washington, if Biden wins.

President Trump should discuss these huge ideas, ignore sniping celebrities, and lock up his magic Twitter machine, save for major, upbeat announcements, such as bill signings, new treaties, and COVID-19 vaccine breakthroughs.

In short, a presidential re-election is a terrible thing to waste.

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