Nothing is more predictable from Donald Trump than his knee-jerk tributes to himself and any “positive” news regarding him. Unfortunately, given his penchant for screw ups, gaffes, and policies that are roundly rejected by most Americans, he has precious few opportunities to boast. But that doesn’t stop him from doing it anyway, even when the news is bad.
On Thursday morning Trump tweeted a valentine to himself in the form of a poll result that showed him with a fifty percent approval rating. To brag about a rating that only puts you at even illustrates just how desperate Trump is for anything upbeat he can promote to mitigate the tsunami of bleakness that surrounds him. But to rest his gloating on a poll by Rasmussen, the most disreputably partisan pollster in America, just makes him seem all the more pathetic. Particularly when that same poll shows Trump with a forty percent “strongly disapprove” rating and only thirty-seven percent “strongly approve.”
Trump frequently alerts his Twitter cult followers when Rasmussen spikes a bit. Never mind that the numbers always take a dive shortly thereafter. Here are some recent examples from just this year alone, including today’s:
Working hard, thank you! pic.twitter.com/6HQVaEXH0I
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2018
.@Rasmussen_Poll just came out at 48% approval rate despite the constant and intense Fake News. Higher than Election Day and higher than President Obama. Rasmussen was one of the most accurate Election Day polls!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2018
Rasmussen just came out at 51% Approval despite the Fake News Media. They were one of the three most accurate on Election Day. Just about the most inaccurate were CNN and ABC News/Washington Post, and they haven’t changed (get new pollsters). Much of the media is a Scam!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2018
“Still Rising: Rasmussen Poll Shows Donald Trump Approval Ratings Now at 51 Percent” https://t.co/q80PaE0gQo
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018
Rasmussen and others have my approval ratings at around 50%, which is higher than Obama, and yet the political pundits love saying my approval ratings are “somewhat low.” They know they are lying when they say it. Turn off the show – FAKE NEWS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018
Rasmussen just announced that my approval rating jumped to 49%, a far better number than I had in winning the Election, and higher than certain “sacred cows.” Other Trump polls are way up also. So why does the media refuse to write this? Oh well, someday!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018
Trump’s characterization of Rasmussen as an accurate pollster is wildly off the mark. The survey experts at FiveThrityEight give Rasmussen a C+ rating. They rank ABC/Washington Post at A-Plus. And in every case, the numbers celebrated by Trump above declined in the days following his boast. There’s no reason to think that they won’t do the same tomorrow.
For the record, the RealClearPolitics average poll of polls has Trump with a 43.8 percent approval. And excluding the Rasmussen outlier, the range is from forty-one to forty-six (with Fox News scoring the high end). That’s nothing to brag about. But Trump is determined to gaslight America with phony numbers and incoherent analyses. Just like his insistence that he had the biggest inauguration crowd in history, or the steepest tax cut ever, or big hands. Or even his “very, very large a-brain.”
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
Caesar Moronikus posts “Working hard, thank you!”
We prevail on your readers to post LOTS of golf pics to THAT tweet to show how hard he’s “working.” Pics of him in THOSE tennis togs would also be appropriate.
And let’s not forget his disapproval ratings, Trump is so averse to that very word that he refuses to even think that such a thing can be pssible.